Cars kill thousands every day, wreck our cities and spout CO2. What should we do about it?
Emily Atkin of the New Republic writes that The modern automobile must die. It is customary in the industry that the people who write the headlines do not write the stories, but this one is troubling because there is somewhat of a disconnect between the two. Atkins makes a very interesting argument, looking at the example of Germany; here is a country with strict commitment to reducing emissions, but she says that they are likely to miss their targets because everyone loves their cars.
Changing the way we power our homes and businesses is certainly important. But as Germany’s shortfall shows, the only way to achieve these necessary, aggressive emissions reductions to combat global warming is to overhaul the gas-powered automobile and the culture that surrounds it. The only question left is how to do it.
As the economy in Germany grows, people are buying more, bigger cars. Yet according to one consultant Atkin quotes, “For Germany to meet emissions targets, “half of the people who now use their cars alone would have to switch to bicycles, public transport, or ride-sharing.” Atkin says that electric cars are not the answer, either:
One could get away with more modest infrastructure investments if governments required carmakers to make their vehicle fleets more fuel-efficient, thereby burning less petroleum. The problem is that most automakers seek to meet those requirements by developing electric cars. If those cars are charged with electricity from a coal-fired power plant, they create “more emissions than a car that burns petrol,” energy storage expert Dénes Csala pointed out last year. “For such a switch to actually reduce net emissions, the electricity that powers those cars must be renewable.”
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