AIR POLLUTION

Air pollutants cause health problems and smog. The air pollutants coming out of a vehicle's tailpipe are tightly controlled by EPA's emission regulations. Thanks to efforts from both EPA (on the regulation side) and the automotive industry (on the compliance side), today's vehicles are significantly cleaner than in the past. Technology advances such as catalytic converters, exhaust gas recirculation and electronic fuel controls have made tighter pollution control from vehicles possible.
However, emission levels will still vary between vehicles, particularly between classes of vehicles, due to differences in emission standards. You can use the 0-10 emissions rating to compare the cleanliness of any vehicle to any other vehicle regardless of class. A higher score is always better. For instance, a truck receiving a score of 8 is designed to be cleaner than any car receiving a score of 7. Emissions performance should be an important environmental consideration when buying a vehicle.
Driving a car is the most polluting act the average UK citizen commits. In most cities car pollution is the biggest source of air pollution. Car pollution contributes to smog, acid rain, and global warming. Cars are getting bigger and heavy goods vehicles are replacing smaller ones. The average new vehicle in 2001 consumed more fuel that its counterpart in 1988.Owners of fuel guzzling cars, beware - your car's emissions may one day be scanned when you least expect it. NASA in the US has announced that a device designed to study greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere will be used by a private company to make auto-emissions detectors that work along the side of a road.Dedicated bus lanes and priority given to cars and vehicles with 3 or more passengers would cut car pollution drastically.
Traffic can be better scheduled with companies placing emphasis on increasing commercial traffic at night. Large companies can stagger working hours and decentralise administrative operations. Combustion engines contribute to carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere and are responsible for climate changes. The adverse health effects of car pollution are pervasive and difficult to measure. A short list of the likely pathogens in car exhaust: Carbon monoxide
Nitrogen dioxide , Sulphur dioxide, Nitrogen monoxide , Benzene , Formaldehyde
and Polycyclic hydrocarbons.