THE RELEVANCE OF GHG EMISSIONS FROM MOTOR VEHICLES

The Earth\u27s atmosphere contains not more than 2% of greenhouse gases (GHG), and only 3.4% of them are produced by human activities. GHG emissions from road transport amount to less than 0.3 % of global GHG emissions. In spite of that, even in the Kyoto Protocol, road transport is pointed out as one of the most important targets when the global GHG emission reduction is concerned. In April 2009, the European Commission adopted the regulation (EC) 443/2009, setting CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars. The paper briefly describes the global economic impact of the Kyoto Protocol on developing countries. Then, total GHG emissions of various types of vehicles are reviewed, and the emerging vehicle technologies, focusing on reducing GHG emissions and replacing fossil fuels with alternative energy resources, are discussed. A well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis of a midsize electric car operating in Croatia has been carried out in the case study. Finally, the main conclusions are drawn: further reduction in GHG emissions from road transport would result in marginal global effects and, compared to all new power train systems, internal combustion engine running on fossil fuels still has great potential for further improvements thus remaining the most viable solution for the future