Question

Write a note on vehicular emission.

Answer 1

Vehicular Emission

The large majority of today's cars and trucks travel by using internal combustion engines that burn gasoline or other fossil fuels. The process of burning gasoline to power cars and trucks contributes to air pollution by releasing a variety of emissions into the atmosphere. Emissions that are released directly into the atmosphere from the tailpipes of cars and trucks are the primary source of vehicular pollution. But motor vehicles also pollute the air during the processes of manufacturing, refueling, and from the emissions associated with oil refining and distribution of the fuel they burn.

Primary pollution from motor vehicles is pollution that is emitted directly into the atmosphere, whereas secondary pollution results from chemical reactions between pollutants after they have been released into the air.

Despite decades of efforts to control air pollution, at least 92 million Americans still live in areas with chronic smog problems. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) predicts that by 2010, even with the benefit of current and anticipated pollution control programs, more than 93 million people will live in areas that violate health standards for ozone (urban smog), and more than 55 million Americans will suffer from unhealthy levels of fine-particle pollution, which is especially harmful to children and senior citizens.

While new cars and light trucks emit about 90 percent fewer pollutants than they did three decades ago, total annual vehicle-miles driven have increased by more than 140 percent since 1970 and are expected to increase another 25 percent by 2010. The emission reductions from individual vehicles have not adequately kept pace with the increase in miles driven and the market trend toward more-polluting light trucks, a category that includes sports utility vehicles (SUVs). As a result, cars and light trucks are still the largest single source of air pollution in most urban areas, accounting for onequarter of emissions of smog-forming pollutants nationwide.