Automotive Industry Trends
December 2004
Clearing the air: A look at smart pollution-busters
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Sure, the auto industry is doing its part to cut emissions and meet government standards. But there’s more to clearing the air than cutting tailpipe pollutants. A few interesting initiatives aimed at air improvements include:
An asphalt answer
Lobbyists for the American Highway User’s Alliance are focused squarely on reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21). The original TEA 21 expired on September 30, 2003, and on that same day, President Bush signed an extension act into law that will continue to fund highway projects until March 1, 2004. Originally TEA 21 provided record levels of funding for surface transportation projects between 1998 and 2003. Still, the Federal Highway Administration still estimates 32 percent of America’s major roads to be in poor or mediocre condition.
According to the American Highway Users Alliance, highway gridlock wastes nearly 6.7 billion gallons of fuel and creates needless pollution. That’s part of the argument the Highway Users is using with legislators in promoting a new TEA 21. “Programs aimed at getting people out of their cars have had limited success,” notes Highway Users Vice President Greg Cohen. “These programs have neither reduced congestion nor improved air quality. But both of these goals could be met by creating a new bottleneck removal program and streamlining the cumbersome process of completing highway projects. Right now, while motorists are idling in traffic, major project approvals require an average of 13 years of study.”
If the Highway Users has its way, the next highway bill will have both highway funding and a focus on congestion relief. The goal: Unclog the worst roads in America. A Highway Users report determined that easing the country’s 167 worst congestion sites would cut CO emissions by 45 percent and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), an ozone-producing agent, by 44 percent.
Getting the lead out
Lead emissions may no longer belch out of cars and trucks in the U.S., but that’s not the case around the globe, particularly in African nations. That’s why the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has joined with the world’s leading auto and engine manufacturers in recommending that all markets drop the use of lead in gasoline by 2005.
The industry groups made their recommendations through the third edition of the Worldwide Fuel Charter. First introduced in 1998 to clarify how fuel affects vehicle emissions and performance, the charter is used by countries and refiners to improve fuel quality standards. “Leaded gasoline is a barrier to the introduction of automotive catalysts that can reduce exhaust emissions by 90 percent or more,” says Charles Territo, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufactures. “It also impedes the global harmonization of vehicle technology.”
Alternative fuels for alternative rides
Environmentally minded commuters who use public transit are gaining even greener transportation alternatives. Notable ways that cities are cutting emissions include:
GM’s Allison Electric Drive System. This road-ready hybrid technology will soon be featured in 235 new busses serving the city of Seattle, Washington. Seattle expects to save 750,000 gallons of fuel each year with the new busses. That’s the equivalent of taking 8,000 IC cars off the road and replacing them with hybrid electric vehicles. Along with great fuel economy, the Allison Electric Drive System gets 50 percent better acceleration than conventional diesel busses.
Natural gas. Roughly 22 percent of new transit bus orders are for natural gas says the Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) Coalition. Benefits of natural gas vehicles over comparable gas-powered engines include:
- 70 percent less carbon monoxide
- An 87 percent decrease in nitrogen oxides
- A 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions
The NGV Coalition also notes that natural gas is non-toxic and won’t contaminate ground water. What’s more, virtually all the natural gas used in U.S. is produced in North America.
Biodiesel. The city of Berkeley, California now runs 100 percent of its diesel fleet on biodiesel fuel, and it’s the first city of its size to make that switch. St. Louis, Missouri and Cedar Rapids, Iowa are two other cities operating buses on biodiesel. Suitable for conventional diesel engines, biodiesel cuts emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particulates. It’s also nontoxic; according to the National Biodiesel Board, the fuel’s lethal dosage of 17.4 prams per kilogram of body weight make table salt nearly 10 times more toxic.