Automobiles: Pollution & Energy Use
It is possible that no invention has had as profound an effect on society as the passenger automobile. It did not take long after its introduction in the early part of this century for the auto to quickly become the primary means of transportation in the United States, where there are now 752 motor vehicles for every 1,000 people. But reliance on cars is not without its problems&emdash;the most obvious being air pollution and energy consumption.
Pollution: General
Pollution by cars causes lung cancer, respiratory problems, urban smog, and acid rain. The reality is that air pollution is to be a major public health problem. As bad as the air is in the U.S., in other countries which have waited too long to address the pollution caused by cars.
Pollution: Ground-Level Ozone
Most ground level ozone pollution is caused by motor vehicles, which account for 72% of nitrogen oxides and 52% of reactive hydrocarbons (principal components of smog). The seriousness of ground-level ozone should not be underestimated.
Pollution: Lead
Cars also pollute by emitting lead from leaded gasoline. Although the use of lead in gasoline is banned in the United States, leaded gasoline is common in other countries. In fact, of the countries for which data is available, 43% use nothing but leaded gasoline. Many of the rest use at least some leaded gasoline in their energy mix. This is a definite cause for concern:
Energy Use
The amount of energy used by automobiles is staggering. Transportation of all types accounts for more than 25% of the world's commercial energy use, and motor vehicles account for nearly 80% of that. In numerical terms, the figures are hard to comprehend. The world used over a trillion liters of motor gas in 1995. And the U.S. accounted for 46% of that total. In fact, America's gasoline consumption easily outstrips its production.
Americans use large amounts of gasoline not just because they drive so much, but also because they're extremely wasteful about how they drive. Most cars on the road carry only one person. In fact, we have so much extra room in our 140 million cars that everyone in Western Europe could fit in them with us. If every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person, we'd save eight billion gallons of gas a year. The one-person-per-car scenario also greatly contributes to traffic congestion, which in turn wastes even more than three billion gallons of gas a year.
Automobiles are responsible for a tremendous amount of air pollution and wasted energy. These problems impact people all over the world, both motorists and non-motorists alike, by affecting their health, their economies, and their communities. Legislation to address air pollution has been only partially successful, and air quality continues to be a major concern in countries all over the world.
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