New Cars are not Green Enough

The demand for environmentally friendly vehicles has been increasing in the past few years. Apart from the increasing threat of global warming, the increasing price of petroleum fuel in the world market is also a reason for this demand. To meet this demand, car manufacturers are going all out in the production of environment friendly and fuel efficient vehicles.

Although numerous alternative fuel vehicles are now being marketed in the global auto market, a report says that car manufacturers are still not making enough progress to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by their mass produced vehicles. Aside from not reducing emission enough, the consumption of non-renewable petroleum products is also not reduced enough.

Fuel efficient cars are those that produce little or no greenhouse gas. Examples of these vehicles are full-time hybrid vehicles, hydrogen powered cars and electric cars. Aside from producing substantially less carbon dioxide and other potentially harmful gases, fuel efficient cars should also be produced using technologies which only take little energy to produce a vehicle.

According to environmentalists, although car manufacturers are producing hybrid, flex fuel, and electric cars, in general they are still missing their target by a long way. An example of this fact is the iconic hybrid Prius. Although in operation, the Prius produces less carbon dioxide and other harmful byproducts of internal combustion, the components on the batteries used in the hybrid are sourced from a mine which pollutes the environment.

Although environmentalists point out that the progress being made by the auto industry is not enough, they named several automobiles which are friendly to the environment. The study reported that 1.3 percent of all the vehicles in the world. Although that may seem a small percentage, the sheer number of vehicles on the world today being driven means that there are a lot of environment friendly vehicles.

One of the current auto models named as an environmentally friendly vehicle is the Saab 9-3 bio power sports wagon with its Saab headlights. This variant of the popular 9-3 is equipped with an engine that runs on alternative fuel. The bio power Saab produces 17 percent more power and ten percent more torque than its conventional gasoline engined sibling. At the same time, the bio power Saab produces about 50 to 70 percent less carbon dioxide emission compared to other variants.

Another auto model named as an environment friendly vehicle is BMW’s hydrogen powered 7 series. The benefit of the said lineup is obvious. Although equipped with a gasoline engine, the BMW 7 Series can also run on hydrogen fuel which produces no carbon dioxide. Furthermore, hydrogen is a renewable source of energy. The technology, at present, is not widely used due to issues concerning the cost of production of these vehicles.

Another green enough vehicle is the Honda Civic Hybrid. Although not as famous as the Camry Hybrid or the iconic Prius, Honda’s Civic Hybrid is more beneficial to the environment than some of Toyota’s hybrid vehicles.

The number of environment friendly vehicles may still be minute compared to the total number of vehicles on the roads today, but car manufacturers have already taken the initiative and it would be beneficial if they continue producing green cars.

Tagged as: Cars, Enough, Green