The world motor vehicle population was estimated in 1994 at 750 million
(motorcycles, cars, vans, trucks, and buses). Recent projections indicate that the 1
billion mark will be reached by the year 2006. Motor vehicles, the world over, are a
major source of air pollution.
Motor vehicles have become an integral and essential part of modern life. As a
result, the number of vehicles on the roads has increased so rapidly that we are now
having to face the fact that motor transport poses serious potential problems in
terms of our environmental well-being.
As countries try to clean up the atmosphere and pump less pollutants into the air we
breath, they need to look at, and control, the exhaust emissions of vehicles,
especially in major cities.
If vehicle users are not prepared to revert to walking, cycling and public
transport it would appear that the only other option is in some way to change
vehicle technology to reduce emissions; either by making vehicles more fuel
efficient, or by finding an alternative, readily available and non-polluting
source of fuel.