How much pollution is caused by cars

Each year, EPA evaluates the greenhouse gas emissions performance of the fleet to determine which vehicles in each class emit less harmful greenhouse gases.

The law requires federal agencies to purchase these high performing vehicles. Over time this will result in a greener federal fleet. SmartWay helps the freight transportation sector improve supply chain efficiency, reducing greenhouse gases and saving fuel costs for companies who participate. Since the mids EPA has required automakers to display a label on new cars and light trucks with information on vehicles' fuel economy and fuel costs.

Labels on today's cars also include ratings on greenhouse gas and smog-forming pollutants. For information on emission reduction strategies, national policies and regulations, incentive-based and voluntary programs, funding sources, calculators, transportation conformity, and other types of assistance to help states and local areas achieve their air quality and transportation objectives. This isn't just some temporary annoyance, this is about making people's lives better and healthier.

Some changes can take a while, such as dumping coal power plants, but are necessary to make real progress. Other changes should be easier, such as getting rid of the vehicles that pollute a disproportionate amount the worst of the worst can pollute hundreds of times more than the average car. How you drive, hard acceleration, age of the vehicle, how the car is maintained — these are things we can influence that can all have an effect on pollution.

This means that just by targeting these dirty old clunkers, badly tuned rust-buckets, and street racers, we could make a significant impact on air quality, especially in urban areas where the density of vehicles gets high enough for pollutant concentrations to reach dangerous levels. Things like Cash for Clunkers, mandatory emission tests that are frequent and stringent , better policing, and maybe some real-time dashboard feedback to help teach people not to accelerate too fast for no reason could help.

Via Atmospheric Measurement Techniques journal , U. Toronto , GCC. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. All have a damaging impact on the health of people, animals and vegetation locally.

Air quality in the UK is slowly improving, but many areas still fail to meet the health based national air quality objectives and European limit values — particularly for particles and nitrogen dioxide. In town centres and alongside busy roads, vehicles are responsible for most local pollution. Vehicles tend to emit more pollution during the first few miles of journey when their engines are warming up. Although new technology and cleaner fuel formulations will continue to cut emissions of pollutants, the increasing number of vehicles on the road and miles driven is eroding these benefits.

Sources include engine noise, tyre noise, car horns, car stereos, door slamming, and squeaking brakes. Vehicles have been subject to noise standards for many years through EU legislation. The sound of engines is a problem in towns and cities, while in more rural areas tyre noise on busy roads, which increases with speed, is the main source.

Low-noise road surfaces, effective noise barriers in sensitive locations, and low noise tyres can all help reduce noise levels. Vehicles have a major impact on the environment through their construction, use and eventual disposal. In addition to these emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants, the vehicle and related industries e. Vehicle use affects our whole quality of local life. Traffic can be dangerous and intimidating, dividing communities and making street life unpleasant.

Abandoned vehicles cause nuisance, whilst air pollution and traffic noise can make urban living uncomfortable. This banding is linked to the voluntary colour coded CO 2 A — M labelling scheme. VED discounts are available for alternatively fuelled cars, e. Tax discounts are available for drivers choosing bio-fuel and hybrid electric vehicles. This may be sold as a separate fuel e. The European Union has now agreed a mandatory CO 2 target for car manufactures.

The Government set out targets for improving air quality standards, based on health implications, in the UK Air Quality Strategy in In areas where national objectives for air quality are likely to be exceeded, local authorities must declare an Air Quality Management Area AQMA and an action plan must be drawn up and implemented. Your local authority environmental health department should be able to advise you on air quality in your area and any plans for improvement.

In some areas authorised officers of the local authority can check that emissions from road vehicles comply with Construction and Use Regulations and issue fixed penalty notices to those failing the test.

In England and Wales, only those local authorities that have declared an AQMA may apply to use this power, but Scottish Regulations enable all local authorities to apply to use them. Drivers who leave their engines running unnecessarily, e. All new cars must comply with strict EU vehicle emission standards, known as Euro standards. Four pollutants are covered: carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter diesel vehicles only at present. These maximum permitted emissions are gradually being tightened up — Euro IV came in on 1 January for cars and was followed by Euro V September and Euro VI approved January for light passenger and commercial vehicles.

Second-hand cars will meet earlier standards and the older your car, the more polluting it is likely to be. The current vehicle emission scandal is due to some vehicle manufacturers producing vehicles which meet much more stringent emission standards during the test cycle than in the real world.

A travel plan is a range of practical measures to reduce car use for journeys to and from work and for business travel. Measures can include encouraging colleagues to use public transport or providing a dedicated bus service, improving cycling facilities, or car sharing clubs. By setting up a travel plan, your company, school or university can help reduce its impact on the environment, save money and improve its relationship with the neighbouring community.

A plan can also help improve accessibility for everyone, not just car drivers. If your company has a fleet of vehicles it makes environmental and financial sense to ensure these are adequately maintained, and that drivers are given guidance on how to reduce their environmental impact.

Cleaner fuels and technologies can also be considered, as well as working to reduce overall mileage of the fleet and improving fuel efficiency, in order to reduce emissions.

The Energy Saving Trust gives free green fleet reviews to companies with fleets of over 50 vehicles, or over 20 in Scotland. In addition to the Company Car Tax rules there are several other tax breaks available.

If a company offers free or subsidised work buses, subsidies to public bus services, cycles and safety equipment for employees, or workplace parking for cycles and motorcycles, employees are not required to pay tax for the benefit. In the UK 2 million new cars and 8 million used cars are sold annually. When buying a car for use at home or work consider choosing the option with the lowest environmental impact. In the end, all these assumptions affect the final result.

Looking at the numbers above, the plane seems to be the most polluting means of transport. Nevertheless, if we check the assumptions closer, the results might be tricky. But is this assumption realistic? Not according to the Union of Concerned Scientists that claims the average occupancy rate of a car in the U.

The point is that with fewer people all the car pollution would be up to g for 2 passengers or even g for 1 passenger. But is this figure true in all circumstances? Definitely not. If we do the math, it means an average of passengers instead of the 88 used in the figures above.

And of course, if we considered a bigger plane, the figures would still be different as they make bigger trips and consume more fuel. It really depends on assumptions such as distance or number of passenger. But other variables can make a difference too. These studies can have more bias than the ones mentioned above. Because to have a realistic figure, variables like recent technical evolutions or start and stop engines need to be considered too.

Driving inside cities with the air-con on means a higher fuel consumption, for instance. Because of this, it should be taken with care. In other words, a car emits more CO2 than the average planes because they consume more energy to transport the same amount of passengers.

As well, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation ICCT , on average, on a long journey, a car with 2 people emits a little more CO2 than if these two people had flown. Of course, the analogy can only be justified for comparable distances: it is obvious no one will make New York — Sydney by car. A car stuck in a traffic jam emits 2. In this way, taking the car with 3 people for holidays can mean a larger carbon footprint than flying. Hence, other types of emissions, such as fine particles , which are much higher for road transportation, should be considered too.

In the end, a journey by plane is often environmentally better than one by car for long journeys.