Greener Cars and Trucks
(Page 2 of 5)
The current average mpg of passenger vehicles is at its lowest level since 1980, largely due to the proliferation of gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks. Besides increasing our dependence on oil, this trend also increases global-warming emissions. Today, the average truck emits percent more global-warming pollution than the average car.
RELATED CONTENT
There's huge potential for hybrid technology to improve the emissions and gas mileage of heavy truc...
Looking for the perfect hybrid vehicle for your family? A wealth of information about hybrid cars i...
The Honda Civic and Toyota Camry — longtime best-selling cars trusted for their reliability and gas...
The president calls for higher fuel economy standards and pushes the EPA to revisit California's re...
The automaker has launched the sale of two hybrid mid-size sedans, and customers who buy one of the...
Determining a vehicle's fuel economy (the mpg ratings for city and highway driving) is easy—for new autos, check the window label; for used models, check the U.S. government's fuel economy Web site, www.fueleconomy.gov .
The Environmental Protection Agency requires all new vehicles sold in the United States to meet minimum emission thresholds for certain pollutants. Each vehicle receives one of many ratings that identifies its level of tailpipe emissions, or essentially how clean its exhaust is. For example, a car certified to the Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV) standard emits 70 percent less smog-forming hydrocarbons than a car meeting the minimum "Tier 1" emission standard. A car meeting the Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle (ULEV) standard emits 84 percent fewer hydrocarbons than a Tier 1 car, and a car meeting the Super-Ultra Low-Emission Vehicle (SULEV) standard emits pollutants at near-zero levels.
The auto industry has made substantial progress in recent years on reducing tailpipe emissions. 2003 vehicles emit significantly fewer emissions than those even just a few years old. Pollution control has grown from an art into a science, as automotive engineers better understand how to limit emissions from forming inside an engine, and how to neutralize those that do form before they exit the tailpipe. Onboard computers now monitor tailpipe emissions and adjust on-the-fly to maintain performance and low-pollution levels.
But there's still plenty of room for improvement, particularly with larger vehicles—today's average truck emits 46 percent more smog-forming exhaust than the average car.
To learn the emissions certification for a new vehicle, first check the windows—some manufacturers use decals to tout low-emission certifications. If there's nothing there, just pop the hood; all vehicles have mandatory under-the-hood labels that identify their emission standards (see example, Page 48).
It should be noted that fuel economy and emission standards aren't necessarily intertwined. Emission standards are mea sured in terms of pollutants emitted per mile driven, not per gallon of fuel consumed. So, it's possible to have a poor fuel economy vehicle with fairly low tailpipe emissions. Or you could have a vehicle with high fuel economy and average exhaust pollution. Fuel consumption, on the other hand, is very closely related to greenhouse gas emissions—the more feel efficient your vehicle, the fewer greenhouse gases it wilt emit.
Page:
<< Previous 1 | 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Next >>
