14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists working with the North Carolina State University in the United States have recently completed an investigation into how the use of environmentally-friendly cars is bound to influence the country's overall pollutant emissions, and some might find their results a tad disturbing.
In a paper published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the researchers explain that, according to data they collected and analyzed, the pollutant emissions that the United States is to blame for are bound to remain fairly elevated despite a noteworthy increase in the number of eco-friendly cars owned and driven by the country's residents.
As detailed on the official website for the North Carolina State University, the scientists found that, even if, by the year 2050, EDVs come to make up 42% of all passenger cars in the United States, the country will not experience any major drop in key air pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide.
For those unaware, the so-called EDVs that the researchers focused on as part of this investigation are hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery electric cars. Thus, EDVs is a generic term that encompasses all said types of vehicles.
The scientists argue that, all things considered, increasing the number of EDVs will do little to reduce pollutant emissions due to the fact that passenger vehicles have a fairly small ecological footprint to begin with.
Specifically, it would appear that passenger cars in the United States make up just 20% of overall carbon dioxide emissions.
“We wanted to see how important EDVs may be over the next 40 years in terms of their ability to reduce emissions. We found that increasing the use of EDVs is not an effective way to produce large emissions reductions,” Dr. Joseph DeCarolis sums up his and his colleagues’ findings.
“From a policy standpoint, this study tells us that it makes more sense to set emissions reductions goals, rather than promoting specific vehicle technologies with the idea that they’ll solve the problem on their own,” the specialist goes on to explain.
The study also looked into what can make EDVs more appealing to the general public, and found that oil price and battery cost are the chief factors influencing their popularity. Thus, as long as oil is expensive and batteries rather cheap, odds are that more people will opt for such a vehicle.