Moving Transportation toward Sustainable Development: The Need for a Paradigm Shift

Despite progress in controlling exhaust emissions, the increase of cars on the road will surpass progress in emission control technology. The automobile is currently responsible for 50% of world fossil fuel consumption, 15-20% of CO2 emissions worldwide and overwhelming particulate air pollution in many urban centers. Current efforts in emissions control have been focused on improving the efficiency of fuels and automobiles and their emissions. However, as a mode of transportation, the automobile is one of the most inefficient, both in environmental and economic costs. Even the most efficient cars developed today will still significantly contribute to the amount of global greenhouse gases based on the current rate of increase in automobile usage. Current trends in automobile development and research are not sustainable. This paper describes some novel approaches to offset and reduce automobile emissions that are currently under study