Elimination or reduction of environmental pollution through Alternative Energy Vehicles
Elimination or reduction of anything that contributes to the environmental pollution and degradation is the primary goal of the climate blueprint. Therefore, the proposal of the use of Alternative energy vehicles should be key to achieve the climate blueprint goal. Alternative energy vehicles run on another type of fuel other than traditional petroleum fuels, and it involves any technology that does not completely depend on petroleum, for instance, electricity and solar power. Alternative energy vehicles include electric car, hybrid electric vehicles and solar-powered cars (Ziegler, 2012).
An electric car is propelled by energy stored in rechargeable batteries while hybrid electric vehicles are run by use of both electricity and gasoline.
Problems associated with gasoline cars.
Majorly, the movement of a vehicle from one place to another involves combustion of fossil fuel that releases gas which pollutes the environment. Thus, this paper aims at discussing the problem caused by vehicles that use gasoline and the benefits of using the alternative energy vehicles. Gasoline vehicles emit gases that are considered as pollutants whereby the pollutants have long-term and short-term effects on the environment including global warming, acid rain, environmental degradation and damage to human heal (Kriesi, 2004).
Gasoline is very harmful to human beings since it is toxic.
Demordoven and Deutch (2004), Studies show that continuous exposure to gasoline either physically or inhalation can cause health problems. In addition, Car pollutants such as hydrocarbons, solid matter, and carbon monoxide are harmful to the health of a human being. Similarly, Vehicles using gasoline as engine propeller emit high levels of particulate matter which consists of soot and metal in the air, hence, causing skin irritation and allergies such as respiratory problems in human beings. Moreover, gasoline vehicles result in global warming; this is according to Kriesi (2004), in which the author explains that moving a vehicle from one place to another involves combustion of fossil fuel. Whereby the process results to release of greenhouse gas such as carbon IV oxide which holds heat in the air leading to an increase in temperature. Global warming causes melting of glaciers and rising sea levels. Thus, Human beings are exposed to harmful direct ultraviolet rays. Furthermore, Car pollution also affects air, soil, and water. A combination of gases mix with rainwater to form acid rain. This acid rain leads to the destruction of buildings, crops, vegetation, and forests. Sometimes the fuel and oils spill from motor vehicles and seep into the soil, hence, contaminating the soil thereby destroying crops.
Solution to problem and advantages
The use of alternative energy vehicles instead of gasoline or petroleum vehicles minimizes air pollution. Although people are encouraged to use alternative energy vehicles, these vehicles are expensive such that the ordinary person cannot afford. Old and poor maintained vehicles cause environmental, air and water pollution but electric, hybrid, and other clean alternative energy vehicles have reduced the impact (Sioshansi " Denholm, 2009). When buying a new car, it is important to check the economy and environment label: the high the ratings the lower the pollution levels.
Primarily, People consider these hybrid and electric cars very expensive in that the ordinary individual cannot afford these alternative energy vehicles. Therefore, the government should intervene and come up with a strategy that promotes the use of electric and hybrid motor vehicles without causing a dent in its citizen’s pocket.
For instance, the government should subsidize the alternative energy vehicles to make it affordable for the average people (Diamond, 2009). Also, there should be other benefits like tax incentives and credit for people who purchase the electric vehicles. Similarly, the government can also lower the prices of alternative energy vehicles which will enable people to buy vehicles that do not pollute the environment.
Electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles have low emissions than the vehicles that use gasoline or diesel (Demirdöven " Deutch, 2004). When measuring emissions, it is important to put into consideration the source of electricity. The electric and hybrid vehicles which use electricity only to run the engine do not have any exhaust emissions although the emissions may be produced by the source of electrical power. Therefore, in geographical areas that have low polluting sources of electricity, the electric vehicles have well to wheel emissions advantage over the other type of vehicles that run on gasoline or diesel. This helps in reducing pollution in those regions.
Benefits of owning alternative energy vehicles.
There are many reasons as to why people prefer alternative energy vehicles. These vehicles are considered environmentally friendly, and they produce less environmental impacts than conventional and traditional combustion engine vehicles that use gasoline or diesel. Some of the benefits of owning alternative energy vehicles include:
Energy security
In the year 2015, United States of America imported 24% of the petroleum it used which was difficult and expensive to transport from other countries. Thus, the use vehicles that use less power like electric vehicles had a great effect since it supported United States economy. Also, it helped to diversify the United States transport system and reduced the effect of international supply distractions since the electric vehicles use less energy than the gasoline vehicles (Ziegler, 2012). In addition, it is easy to boost the energy of these vehicles since they use electric drive technologies. Furthermore, the hybrid electric vehicles can depend solely on electric power, which is largely generated in the United States from coal, nuclear energy, and other renewable sources.
Uses Less fuel
Compared to other vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles use less fuel which in turn lowers the costs incurred in refueling vehicles. Hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles can reduce the cost of fuel dramatically due to the efficiency of electric motors. The fuel use on medium and heavy duty of hybrid and the electric vehicle highly depends on the weight being carried and the duty cycle (Demirdöven " Deutch, 2004). This way they have a strong fuel-cost advantage over the gasoline vehicles.
Availability of infrastructure
Hybrid and electric vehicles are flexibly fueled since these vehicles are electric, they can be charged, and electric grid is available in various places such as peoples’ park, workplace, and public charging stations. Moreover, Plug-in the hybrid electric vehicle is flexible in that they can be fueled by both gasoline and diesel when the need arises (Ziegler, 2012).
Reduced Costs
The fuel costs of hybrid electric vehicles are lower than those of other gasoline vehicles whereby their purchase prices may be significantly high. Prices decreases as the production volume increase. The hybrid electric vehicles are cheap to run, for instance, an electric vehicle when charged goes for around a third of a kilometer which is the same as buying petrol for the same vehicle. Therefore the government of the United States of America encourages the people to buy an electric car since the cost of maintenance is low (Jenn et al., 2013).
Low Emissions
Just like any other vehicle, hybrid electric vehicles have emissions. These emissions can be significantly beneficial over the conventional vehicles. Hybrid electric vehicle benefits vary from one vehicle to another depending on the model of the vehicle. The emissions are dependent on the source of electricity used to power them which also varies by region. However, in places where there are low levels of pollution, hybrid vehicles have a life cycle emission benefit over similar cars that run on gas. Also, Plug-in electric vehicles have low levels of emissions that contribute to change of climate than vehicles that use gasoline. According to Sioshansi " Denholm (2009), the two types of emissions are; direct and life cycle. Direct emission is done through the exhaust pipe through the evaporation from and during the fueling process. Direct emissions include carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. However, not all electric vehicles do not have direct emissions to ensure that air pollution is minimized in urban areas. However lifecycle emissions are those related to fossil fuels and industrial production of vehicles distribution, use, and recycling. In this case, the vehicles that run on gasoline produce more emissions than electric vehicles.
Durable Batteries
The batteries in the hybrid electronic vehicle are designed to be durable, despite the fact that they will eventually wear out. Electric vehicle battery has a lot of parts that do not move than cars that run on gasoline. The cars need only little servicing, and they do not have expensive exhaust pipe systems that wears out the battery. Most of the manufacturers of these vehicles offer 8years-100000 mile batteries warrant. Therefore, a battery for electric vehicle is cheap to maintain (Demirdöven " Deutch, 2004)
Conclusion
There are two types of vehicles; the conventional vehicles and the alternative energy vehicles. The conventional vehicles use gasoline or diesel to run while the alternative energy vehicles use electricity, batteries or solar to propel their engines. The alternative energy vehicles are solar powered while electric and hybrid electric vehicles are powered by either electricity or solar. The traditional conventional vehicles which are propelled by gasoline are considered as the major causes of global warming, air, water and soil pollution, and human health problems due to emission of pollutant gases such as Sulphur IV oxide, Nitrogen IV oxide as well as carbon IV oxide. In addition the solid waste released is also harmful to human beings most especially when it contaminates water it causes skin disease and irritation. The alternative energy sources are the main solution to the problems that are caused by gasoline cars. The hybrid and electric vehicles are considered as environment-friendly. They do not emit harmful wastes to the environment. Therefore, these vehicles are cheap to run, affordable to maintain, they reduce pollution, they use renewable energy, and they protect the world from global warming. Henceforth, Alternative energy vehicles are therefore considered as cleaner and safer for the environment since they do not have emissions, so there is minimal pollution of the environment making them advantageous compared to vehicles that use gasoline or diesel which its emissions have a great negative impact to the environment.
References
Demirdöven, N., " Deutch, J. (2004). Hybrid Cars Now, Fuel Cell Cars Later. Science, 305(5686), 974-976.
Diamond, D. (2009). The Impact of Government Incentives for Hybrid-Electric Vehicles: Evidence from US states. Energy Policy, 37(3), 972-983.
Jenn, A., Azevedo, I. L., " Ferreira, P. (2013). The Impact of Federal Incentives on the Adoption
of Hybrid Electric Vehicles in the United States. Energy Economics, 40, 936-942.
Kriesi, H. (2004). Stability and change of opinion: The case of Swiss policy against pollution caused by cars. Studies in public opinion: Attitude, Non attitudes, 242-267
Sioshansi, R., " Denholm, P. (2009). Emissions impacts and benefits of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid services. Environmental science " technology, 43(4), 1199-1204.
Ziegler, A. (2012). Individual characteristics and stated preferences for alternative energy sources and propulsion technologies in vehicles: A discrete choice analysis for Germany. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 46(8), 1372-1385.
