Climate Change and What Does It Hold for the Future of Cars have been a heated topic of discussion for quite a few years now. It is being discussed everywhere, from the international media to our daily conversations. Greta Thunberg has become infamous for her historical protests against climate change. Many of the world leaders seem to be taking action and some just maintain silence.

So what actually is climate change and what does it mean for the future of cars? Will the future hold only electric cars? Will fossil fuels be completely replaced? The questions are too many to answer. Let us first see briefly what climate change actually is and how it is bad for us.

The Whys and Hows of Climate Change

Climate includes all the conditions of the air, water and land around us. The weather conditions and seasons all are a part of the climate. When we burn fossil fuels like gasoline, coal diesel etc., they produce carbon dioxide gas. This gas is the leading source to heat up the earth where we live.

More heat means that each and every weather will be more intense. It causes more rains, more snow, more violent winters, more harmful storms and more scorching summers. This all means that climate change is extremely bad for us. The cars that we travel in are a major contributor to the degradation of the climate.

So does it mean that the fossil fuel powered cars will totally be vanished? Let us explore this further down the article.

How Much Carbon Dioxide Do Old Cars Actually Produce

All of our cars which are driven by fossil fuels produce harmful carbon dioxide gas. Some fuels produce more and some produce less, but all of them contribute to the production of carbon dioxide. It is estimated that the total number of cars in service globally produce more of this harmful gas than the whole of aviation industry.

This is an alarming situation. Considering this, many Japanese car exporters and manufacturers have started the use of greener alternatives. For e.g. hybrid technology, eco idle etc. this has been quite useful and has reduces the amount of emissions, but this is insufficient to tackle the whole problem

Joining hands with them, many of the used cars exporters have started to halt the trading of the fuel-inefficient automobiles. They now focus on the trading of latest technology cars with environmentally friendly fuel consumption. This has caused them to see a boost in their business which is a win-win for everyone. It benefits the environment, the consumers as well as the businesses.

Should We Stop the Use of Old Cars

It sounds as though old automobiles are the only contributor to the global carbon emissions.  But this is not the case. It is true that old cars produce a significant amount of carbon dioxide gas, but there are other industries also which are even bigger contributors of emissions. This does not necessarily mean that we stop the use of old cars.

Old automobiles have used up a significant amount of the resources for their production. Plus it is not possible practically to abandon their use at once. It will also be greatly harmful for the living of people around the world. Abandoning the use of old cars all at once can also significantly impact the world economy. This will be a very tough bargain for everyone, which has more drawbacks than benefits.

The use of old automobiles should be abandoned slowly. In addition to this, the majority of used cars that are available for sale today are environmentally friendly. They contain some type of technology which makes them fuel efficient and also significantly greener. Especially in Japan used cars Toyota has played a vital role for the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Are Electric Cars the Solution

With the venture of electric cars in the automotive industry, the whole world is amazed. Electric cars provide an effective solution to the carbon problem. They are fully battery powered and have no carbon footprint at all. They produce no emissions and provide better efficiencies than original fossil fuel powered cars.

This sounds so intimidating and utopic at the first glance. Although this is the best possible solution that we have access to till date. However there are some drawbacks to this approach also. The majority of electric production is still through the burning of fossil fuels. So till the time total energy production is not green, the benefits of electric cars would not be seen.

Apart from this, the major drawback of them is that they produce plastic waste in huge amounts. All the parts of these automobiles use plastic. Especially the batteries use more plastic than all other parts and they are the part that need constant replacement. Our oceans are already fighting with plastic pollution, this will add to it devastatingly in the next few years.

So What Should be Done

The solution to the environmental problems that we face today is a complex one. This does not involve focusing on doing just one action and totally disregarding all other actions. It is true that electric cars are the future of the automobile industry, but it also needs significant development in order to overtake the traditional car industry.

We should still continue the use of environmentally friendly cars. Used Honda cars in Japan constitute a major portion of environmentally friendly cars. We should totally discontinue the use of cars which do not have any environmentally friendly technology. In this way we can contribute to save the environment while tackling all the other problems that arise in the process.

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