Does car pollution get to you? People with asthma or other breathing difficulties can be greatly affected by the smog levels in a city. Regardless of breathing difficulties, smog and air pollution is bad for our health, and we would be well off without it. Cleaner air is on it's way as countries are starting to make plans to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles within their borders.
After Volvo announced they were going to only make electric or hybrid cars by 2019, earlier in July France said it would end gasoline and diesel vehicle sales by 2040. If you're living in the UK, also expect the air pollution from cars to start going down by 2040 and eventually be a thing of the past. The UK is estimated to spend 2.7 billion pounds each year in lost productivity from air quality health issues, with about 40,000 air pollution related deaths each year.
The air pollution levels in many areas are unnecessary and avoidable since we can move towards cleaner technology. Diesel is a cleaner fuel than gasoline in terms of producing less CO2 (carbon dioxide), which made it preferable by some policy makers who created tax reductions for diesel. But this policy to subsidize diesel in many countries is under the knife as diesel produces more NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) -- a major cause of air pollution and smog in cities.
While lower CO2 might be the hype in terms of global warming or climate change, NO2 levels are still are a larger concern for air related health issues. NO2 levels from vehicle emissions will go down as we shift towards electric vehicles in society. Hybrid vehicles will not be exempt from the ban on new car sales. Despite being cleaner, hybrids still use gasoline or diesel.
The UK will be spending 3 billion pounds for this new air pollution plan, looking to retrofit and reduce emission, as well as green funds and cycling and walking development. 255 million in funding will go directly to local councils for them to tackle this environmental risk to public health and bring N02 levels down, like refitting buses to be electric only. Existing users of previously manufactured gasoline or diesel vehicles might see some fees or taxes leveed against them at some point. Cities might impose entry fees to get into a city or certain areas, but local councils want to avoid doing so as it comes off as punishing car drivers.
In Montreal the government is following the growing move towards being more "green", and they have already started to replace the public transportation buses with electric buses.
I suspect that after some years of a ban on gasoline and diesel vehicle sales, governments will move to ban or fine existing combustion engine owners. It takes time for people to accept such changes. First get people to stop buying new gas cars by banning their sale, then after that's been accepted ban the use of gas cars from being used. Or will they just let the old cars go out of use? A ban or fee on combustion engine use would probably have more public backlash than banning new sales. What do you think?
I guess rural areas will eventually feel the pressure as well, and gas or diesel engines may be a thing of the past. Is this what's going to happen? Is it for the better or worse?
How concerned are you about pollution?
Do you use a car often in the city?
Has your city started to roll-out the "greener" electric buses yet?
Do you agree with this ban?
Does there need to be a ban?
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/world/europe/uk-diesel-petrol-emissions.html
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/25/britain-to-ban-sale-of-all-diesel-and-petrol-cars-and-vans-from-2040
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/06/france-ban-gasoline-diesel-cars-2040-emmanuel-macron-volvo
https://phys.org/news/2017-07-uk-sale-gasoline-diesel-cars.html
http://globalnews.ca/news/3626019/britain-gas-diesel-ban/
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