The environmental movement got underway in earnest about 42 years ago when Los Angelenos, perpetually bogged down on congested freeways, finally got fed up with the blanket of pollution their automobile emissions cast over the City of Angeles. Not too long afterwords (by the mid-1970s), but long before the EPA exploded into the nation's most powerful regulatory institution, engineers had implemented techologies to deal with smog: catalytic converters, reformulated fuels and more efficient engines. They worked.
Earlier this year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) presented research showing Los Angeles' smog is under control. Since the 1960s there has been a 98 percent decrease in air pollutants known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), even though more cars are venturing over the region's complex, serpentine freeway system. While ozone levels, however, do not meet EPA standards, the NOAA says they're trending downward.
Meanwhile when pressed, a majority of California Air Resoruces Board (CARB) members have admitted they want to get rid of internal combustion vehicles altogether. The sooner the better. But sooner might not be better because there's a big problem technology hasn't solved yet. For every five-percent-market share electric cars gain, one new power plant has to be constructed to meet battery recharging demand. Unless nuclear generation goes mainstream, those power plants would have to be coal, gas or oil-fired operations. And that will send more carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than all the old gasoline fueled cars ever did.
Earlier this year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) presented research showing Los Angeles' smog is under control. Since the 1960s there has been a 98 percent decrease in air pollutants known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), even though more cars are venturing over the region's complex, serpentine freeway system. While ozone levels, however, do not meet EPA standards, the NOAA says they're trending downward.
Meanwhile when pressed, a majority of California Air Resoruces Board (CARB) members have admitted they want to get rid of internal combustion vehicles altogether. The sooner the better. But sooner might not be better because there's a big problem technology hasn't solved yet. For every five-percent-market share electric cars gain, one new power plant has to be constructed to meet battery recharging demand. Unless nuclear generation goes mainstream, those power plants would have to be coal, gas or oil-fired operations. And that will send more carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than all the old gasoline fueled cars ever did.
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