340
22 million commercial vehicles were added. Thanks to rapidly developing economies like China and India, there is no end of this growth in sight.
Serious efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of this ever-growing vehicle
fl eet are relatively recent. In the EU, catalytic converters became mandatory only 25
years ago, and lead was banned only 15 years ago. The United States moved earlier
to reduce air pollutants from cars but is lagging in terms of fuel effi ciency. In fact,
the fuel economy of new light-duty vehicles in the United States declined between
1987 and 2004 ( EPA 2014 b). This trend was driven by increases in vehicle weight,
power, and acceleration and also the growing share of so-called sports utility vehicles (SUVs), wiping out all advances in engine and powertrain effi ciency. These
trends are currently fl at or at least increasing more slowly.
It is unlikely, though, that this is enough to reduce the environmental impacts
from a huge and growing global car fl eet to acceptable levels, which is why more
and more decision makers are looking for a new automotive paradigm. It is currently unclear what will be the future fuel, powertrain, or even material of the car. It
is clear, however, that the tools and concepts of industrial ecology could and should
play a vital role in evaluating environmental trade-offs and avoiding unintended
consequences. Humans have a substantial track record of causing large environmental problems, the conventional ICV being one of them. Yet humans are also starting
to build a track record of solving environmental problems. Let’s hope that with the
enlightened use of industrial ecology, the future automobile will be one such
solution.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
References
ANL. (2014). GREET 2 2014. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Retrieved January 30, 2015,
from https://greet.es.anl.gov
Bedsworth, L. W., & Taylor, M. R. (2007). Learning from California’s zero-emissions vehicle program. California Economic Policy, 3 (4), 1–19. Public Policy Institute of California.
Blankenship, R. E., et al. (2011). Comparing photosynthetic and photovoltaic effi ciencies and recognizing the potential for improvement. Science, 332 , 805–809.
Campbell, J. E., Lobell, D. B., & Field, C. B. (2009). Greater transportation energy and GHG
offsets from bioelectricity than ethanol. Science, 324 , 1055–1057.
Cohn, S. (2009). It happened in Chicago . Guildford: The Globe Pequot Press.
Collantes, G., & Sperling, D. (2008). The origin of California’s zero emissions vehicle mandate.
Transportation Research Part A, 42 , 1302–1313.
Demirdöven, N., & Deutch, J. (2004). Hybrid cars now, fuel cell cars later. Science, 305 ,
974–976.
DOE. (2014). Lightweight materials R&D program . DOE/EE-1039. United States Department of
Energy (DOE). Retrieved January 30, 2015, from http://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/downloads/
vehicle-technologies-offi ce-2013-lightweight-materials-rd-annual-progress
EIA. (2015). Fuel ethanol production . Energy Information Agency (EIA). Retrieved January 30,
2015, from http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/IEDIndex3.cfm
R. Geyer
22 million commercial vehicles were added. Thanks to rapidly developing economies like China and India, there is no end of this growth in sight.
Serious efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of this ever-growing vehicle
fl eet are relatively recent. In the EU, catalytic converters became mandatory only 25
years ago, and lead was banned only 15 years ago. The United States moved earlier
to reduce air pollutants from cars but is lagging in terms of fuel effi ciency. In fact,
the fuel economy of new light-duty vehicles in the United States declined between
1987 and 2004 ( EPA 2014 b). This trend was driven by increases in vehicle weight,
power, and acceleration and also the growing share of so-called sports utility vehicles (SUVs), wiping out all advances in engine and powertrain effi ciency. These
trends are currently fl at or at least increasing more slowly.
It is unlikely, though, that this is enough to reduce the environmental impacts
from a huge and growing global car fl eet to acceptable levels, which is why more
and more decision makers are looking for a new automotive paradigm. It is currently unclear what will be the future fuel, powertrain, or even material of the car. It
is clear, however, that the tools and concepts of industrial ecology could and should
play a vital role in evaluating environmental trade-offs and avoiding unintended
consequences. Humans have a substantial track record of causing large environmental problems, the conventional ICV being one of them. Yet humans are also starting
to build a track record of solving environmental problems. Let’s hope that with the
enlightened use of industrial ecology, the future automobile will be one such
solution.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
References
ANL. (2014). GREET 2 2014. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Retrieved January 30, 2015,
from https://greet.es.anl.gov
Bedsworth, L. W., & Taylor, M. R. (2007). Learning from California’s zero-emissions vehicle program. California Economic Policy, 3 (4), 1–19. Public Policy Institute of California.
Blankenship, R. E., et al. (2011). Comparing photosynthetic and photovoltaic effi ciencies and recognizing the potential for improvement. Science, 332 , 805–809.
Campbell, J. E., Lobell, D. B., & Field, C. B. (2009). Greater transportation energy and GHG
offsets from bioelectricity than ethanol. Science, 324 , 1055–1057.
Cohn, S. (2009). It happened in Chicago . Guildford: The Globe Pequot Press.
Collantes, G., & Sperling, D. (2008). The origin of California’s zero emissions vehicle mandate.
Transportation Research Part A, 42 , 1302–1313.
Demirdöven, N., & Deutch, J. (2004). Hybrid cars now, fuel cell cars later. Science, 305 ,
974–976.
DOE. (2014). Lightweight materials R&D program . DOE/EE-1039. United States Department of
Energy (DOE). Retrieved January 30, 2015, from http://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/downloads/
vehicle-technologies-offi ce-2013-lightweight-materials-rd-annual-progress
EIA. (2015). Fuel ethanol production . Energy Information Agency (EIA). Retrieved January 30,
2015, from http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/IEDIndex3.cfm
R. Geyer