The gases emitted from the exhaust of cars contain carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen. These various poisonous gases are harmful to living things. The particles that remain in the atmosphere impact the quality of air that we breathe and lead to respiratory diseases and cancer. Car pollution is a serious threat to our environment. These gases have the ability to block the sunrays that are reflected from the Earth’s surface. The solar energy gets trapped in the atmosphere and causes variances in temperature. Many scientists believe that this is a major contribution to global warming. According to scientific estimates the global temperatures have seen a drastic increase in the last hundred years. The emissions released from the combustion system of a car affect our environment and do damage to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a process where infrared rays from the sun come into the Earth’s atmosphere. The atmosphere traps these rays after they have entered keeping the Earth warm and habitable. Toxic gases weaken the atmosphere allowing more infrared rays to enter. The raising temperature of the Earth causes certain vegetation life to die off. Reducing the amount of these greenhouse gases will greatly help reduce these effects.

 

Cars release 30% of the carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is released from the tailpipe of a car and every time a car burns a gallon of gas it releases 22 pounds of carbon dioxide. Cars account for 76% of the carbon monoxide in the Earth’s air. Carbon monoxide affects the bloods total capacity for carrying oxygen to the heart, brain and other important organs. Cars also release nitrogen oxide that contribute 30% of all the nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere. These gases released by car emissions combine together to create smog. Smog contaminates city air and causes respiratory problems. A zero emission car would reduce the demand for gas, oil, coal and natural gas. Right now the United States releases about 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per person each year. With every car on the road the temperature increases posing a threat to the survival of the human race on this planet. Realistically human beings are unlikely to give up the freedom that comes with owning a car so what my partner John Zhang and I decided to do was build a zero emission car.