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May/June 2000 issue (#45)
Microsoft's Car Point, the online car-buying service, advised recently: "Think about how your fuel conservation efforts benefit the Earth and future generations." Because of global warming, the item noted, there will be rising sea levels, heat deaths, and disturbing weather patterns. Every gallon of gasoline burned puts about 20 pounds of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. So, Car Point concluded, "every gallon of gas that you don't use helps ease the global warming crisis."
A recent study by the Southern California Air Quality Management District (AQMD) showed that "diesel soot in the region is responsible for about 71% of the total cancer risk from air pollution," with many of the pollutants coming from school buses. Environment News Service noted that electric school buses and clean-burning compressed natural gas engines are now available, but they cost more than diesel buses and engines. The AQMD has proposed an "Adopt a School Bus" program to help pay the cost of reducing cancer- causing diesel emissions from the region's school buses. Under the program, individuals or corporate sponsors could donate funds to retrofit diesel buses to cleaner burning technologies, or to purchase new natural-gas powered buses.
The American Lung Association and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) are calling on Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency to find new ways of reducing pollution from vehicle emissions without using toxic fuel additives, according to the online Environment News Service. Amendments to the 1990 Clean Air Act requires the reformulation of gasoline in highly smoggy urban areas with additives that make fuel burn more cleanly. But concern is mounting over the water pollution and health threats posed by the additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). "While there have been huge pollution reductions in smog and cancer causing air toxics from the switch to reformulated gasoline, Congress can no longer ignore the harm being done by gasoline and MTBE leaking into drinking water supplies," said Janet Hathaway, senior attorney with NRDC. "Oil refiners have the ability to produce gasoline that achieves just as much air pollution reduction without oxygenates such as MTBE, but the law currently mandates their use. Congress should act immediately to repeal the mandate." In the meantime, several companies are looking into cleaning up water supplies contaminated with MBTE by using certain bacteria that occur naturally in groundwater. Meanwhile, researchers from the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute at Rutgers University have found that gasoline oxygenated with 15% MTBE causes symptoms like headaches, eye irritation and fatigue in sensitive people.
In December Honda introduced the Insight. This summer Toyota will present Prius. Both are hybrids, using a combination of gasoline, electric motor, and batteries (that don't need to be plugged in to be recharged). And both cars are about 50 percent more fuel-efficient than the average car. Just as the U.S. lost out to Japan in the 1970s in the small-car market, Detroit is running behind in the fuel-efficient category.
The European Commission and nine European Union countries will hold a nearly continent-wide car-free day on September 22 this year. The event broadens car-free days that have been held in several European countries in the last few years. Polls in Europe show that 51% of the people declare dense traffic is their first environmental concern, followed by air pollution. Europe's Car-Free Day aims to raise awareness of the need to change mobility patterns and enable citizens to see the benefits of a car-free environment, Environment News Service reported. The day will also allow city councils to test new transport concepts such as pedestrian areas, electric vehicles for goods delivery, and cycle networks.
A New York City group concerned about diesel emissions quipped recently that it is more dangerous to stand behind a bus (inhaling the fumes) than to stand in front of it (and get hit). Now New York Governor George Pataki has awarded $3.6 million through the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act for the purchase of 72 clean-fuel buses, according to Environment News Service. The Clean Water/Clean Air Act will help New York to acquire "the most advanced buses available to replace aging diesel powered buses," Pataki said. The majority of the clean-fuel buses will be powered by compressed natural gas.
A revolutionary engine has been created that can produce power by absorbing heat from atmospheric air, according to Environment News Service. The engine, patented by Entropy Systems Inc., is designed to run cars, boats, lawnmowers, and generators. Tests on developmental prototypes were conducted last year at Youngstown State University, Purdue University, and Pennsylvania State University. The units apparently work off outside air even at subzero temperatures. Meanwhile, Cornell researchers are using enzymes to break down plant wastes into a renewable energy form. In a talk at the American Chemical Society national meeting in San Francisco, Larry Walker, Cornell professor of agricultural and biological engineering, said there is sufficient biomass waste available to supply all of the organic chemicals consumed in the U.S. each year and still have enough waste left over to convert to auto fuel. "We need renewable resources. How do we develop alternatives to petroleum based products? We do this through plant materials," said Walker. "Bio-based fuels are recyclable. Fossil based fuels are not."
Solar-powered cars set a new world speed record at SunRace 2000, in Australia, Environment News Service reported. Four vehicles exceeded 62.55 mph on the 1790 kilometers from Sydney to Melbourne. The annual race "gives the Australian Greenhouse Office a chance to raise community awareness about issues relating to greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, while promoting the development of new technologies," said a government official.
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