The drive for low emissions
KEN LIVINGSTONE, the mayor of London, last year caused a mild panic among drivers who cruise the city's narrow streets in “Chelsea tractors” (SUVs to the rest of the world). He announced that he was planning to charge cars emitting more than 225g of CO2 per kilometre £25 a day to go into the centre of London rather than the standard £8. “Red Ken” has always enjoyed stirring it among the rich, so he was probably quite happy at the stink he caused.
Worldwide car ownership is growing around 5% a year, so if emissions from cars are to be cut, engines will have to become dramatically more efficient, or there will have to be a technological breakthrough to replace petrol with a clean fuel. Now that governments seem to be getting serious about emissions, car and fuel companies are getting serious about finding less polluting alternatives. (...)
Mr Livingstone's initiative is only one of many new measures that have been proposed around the world to cut vehicle emissions. California is trying to impose greenhouse-gas emissions standards on cars, though the motor manufacturers have taken the state to court on the ground that this is federal-government business. In his most recent state-of-the-union address, George Bush's big concession to the greens was to propose a 4% a year tightening in fuel-efficiency rules. (...)
In January California announced that by 2020 it will require a 10% reduction in the carbon emissions that a fuel emits over its life cycle. That has implications for “unconventional oil”—petrol made from oil shale and tar sands. Although CO2 emissions from the resulting fuel are the same as those from conventional sources, producing it is a filthy business, so such rules will discourage its use. Europe is planning to follow California. That is not necessarily a coincidence. There is a lot of traffic between Brussels and Sacramento on green issues. (...)
Clean-energy entrepreneurs may find the transport business harder to crack than power generation, because the existing infrastructure of pipelines and service stations is dedicated to petrol. Yet Brazil, where sugar ethanol now accounts for 40% of fuel used by cars, shows that it can be done. Now that governments are beginning to lean on big oil as well as on the car companies, the drive towards cleaner transport is likely to pick up speed. Leia a integra aqui na revista britânica The Economist
Worldwide car ownership is growing around 5% a year, so if emissions from cars are to be cut, engines will have to become dramatically more efficient, or there will have to be a technological breakthrough to replace petrol with a clean fuel. Now that governments seem to be getting serious about emissions, car and fuel companies are getting serious about finding less polluting alternatives. (...)
Mr Livingstone's initiative is only one of many new measures that have been proposed around the world to cut vehicle emissions. California is trying to impose greenhouse-gas emissions standards on cars, though the motor manufacturers have taken the state to court on the ground that this is federal-government business. In his most recent state-of-the-union address, George Bush's big concession to the greens was to propose a 4% a year tightening in fuel-efficiency rules. (...)
In January California announced that by 2020 it will require a 10% reduction in the carbon emissions that a fuel emits over its life cycle. That has implications for “unconventional oil”—petrol made from oil shale and tar sands. Although CO2 emissions from the resulting fuel are the same as those from conventional sources, producing it is a filthy business, so such rules will discourage its use. Europe is planning to follow California. That is not necessarily a coincidence. There is a lot of traffic between Brussels and Sacramento on green issues. (...)
Clean-energy entrepreneurs may find the transport business harder to crack than power generation, because the existing infrastructure of pipelines and service stations is dedicated to petrol. Yet Brazil, where sugar ethanol now accounts for 40% of fuel used by cars, shows that it can be done. Now that governments are beginning to lean on big oil as well as on the car companies, the drive towards cleaner transport is likely to pick up speed. Leia a integra aqui na revista britânica The Economist
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