Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
playing
so that things move in a desired direction.
Of course, regulations are required too. The US auto
industry, for example, had resisted ef
eld
”
ciency improve-
ments until regulations required them to act. I know this
area well, having spent six years in the
s on the
General Motors Science and Technology Advisory
Board. I think the industry has
finally understood what
is needed and is developing the technologies required to
meet the long-term goal of
miles per gallon for the
average mileage of the light vehicle
eet.
The global problem is harder to deal with. It is particu-
larly tough because while emissions have to be tackled on
a global basis, the world has countries that range from
rich to poor. Most emissions are coupled to energy use,
and energy use is coupled to economic development: the
poor want to get rich, the rich want to get richer, and the
bene
ts coming from actions now are going to be seen
only in the future. The very poorest use so little energy
that even as they begin to climb the development ladder
and use more, they will still make only a tiny contribution
to emissions, and the world program can leave them alone
until they have climbed several steps.
But the developing countries in the rapid-growth phase
-
China and India, for instance
cannot be entirely left out of
the action agenda as they were in the Kyoto Protocol of
-
. China has already passed the United States as the
largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the developing
nations collectively are expected to surpass the industrial-
ized ones in
years. There can be no effective
program for the long term without all nations coming
under a greenhouse control umbrella once they reach some
emission threshold. It will no longer do for the developing
to
