23 April 2001: New research shows the global "footprint" of motoring extends far beyond the limits we have previously imagined. And that is why so many carmakers are endeavouring to reduce the impact involved in making a car.
For example, it has been estimated that making an average car produces 54 tonnes of waste.
It has also been calculated that the average car emits 3.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide in its lifetime, though it must be remembered this is an average and does not reflect huge strides in several marques.
And automakers, acutely aware that solutions can create their own problems, have to consistently look at the side effects of new processes.
For example, increasing the use of aluminium certainly reduces the weight of the vehicle and that improves fuel efficiency and reduces the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. But aluminium smelting can also produce what they call fluoro-carbons that can also lead to global warming.
We read a lot about the increased use of plastics to reduce weight and consequently improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, as carmakers will tell you, plastics can be more difficult to recycle than metals and are likely to end up being incinerated or in land-fill.
Using rare metals, such as platinum, palladium and rhodium, in catalytic convertors reduces toxic emissions where the car is driven but entails the extraction of huge amounts of ore. 450,000 tonnes of rock are extracted and dumped to produce one tonne of platinum.
So we can see that even in the pursuit of making cleaner cars we run the risk of creating parallel damage.
It is a tightrope carmakers must walk. And it is likely to lead more and more of them to think about non-emission means of propulsion.
Unfortunately fuel cell technology, to take one example, is rapidly advancing. The only problem is that those involved freely admit it is going to be a long time before it can be made widely available.
In the meantime automakers will have to continually refine the way they make 'greener' cars without impacting in other ways on the environment. CFC
