Posts

Showing posts from October, 2007

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Cars and Light Trucks in Canada

Image
GHG Emissions from Cars & Light Trucks Originally uploaded by Rob__ Apologists for the Gateway Program have begun to claim that we can expand highways and reduce ghg (greenhouse gas) emissions because cars are getting "cleaner" and "total emissions continue to decline." The problem is that they are confusing different types of emissions. It is true that emission controls for automobiles have reduced some types of toxic emissions. But these controls do NOT reduce CO2 - the major ghg emission. Fuel efficiency does reduce ghg emissions. But after a sharp decline in fuel efficiency in the 70s and early 80s the combined fuel efficiency of light duty vehicles started rising in the 1990s (partly because people started switching to SUVs, vans and trucks from cars). see: http://www.oee.rncan.gc.ca/english/programs/gif/mfev_figure_05.gif GHG emissions from cars actually declined from 1990 -2005 but the total ghg emissions for car and light trucks incre