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Japan: Hybrid Cars in Race against Climate Change |
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By Suvendrini Kakuchi*
The Japanese car industry is leading a technological revolution by coming out with fast, modern cars that produce less pollution and thus would help curb the greenhouse effect.
TOKYO - The hybrid automobile, powered by gasoline and electricity, is an effective solution for reducing emissions of the greenhouse gases produced by vehicles, but is not the only one.
"My wife and I were looking for a car that would also be environmentally friendly, and Prius was the answer," Yacchan, the proud owner of a new cobalt-green car told Tierramérica.
The Prius is the world's first hybrid car that runs on both gasoline and electricity, and Yacchan, an information technology technician, says, "It's the best choice I made."
The vehicle has two engines, with the gasoline-fired version turning on only when the electrical one needs recharging, and does so automatically, meaning the driver does not have to make the switch.
The Prius consumes one liter of gasoline per 28 km, nearly double the capacity of a regular sedan. By consuming less gasoline, the car emits a lower volume of greenhouses gases - particularly carbon dioxide - which most scientists link to global warming and climate change.
After almost thirty years of research, Toyota Motor Company, Japan's top auto manufacturer, launched the Prius, a four-seat passenger sedan, in December 1997. More than 330,000 units were sold by the end of 1999 at a relatively high price of 19,200 dollars.
But this environmentally-friendly vehicle still represents only a niche market. In 2001, 5.9 million cars were sold in Japan, of which just 13,000 were hybrids.
However, Toyota estimates that 90 percent of cars sold in 2020 will be this sort of combination system that uses gasoline and electricity. "They are the cars of the future," says Tadashi Kotake, of the environmental division of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. "More auto makers are moving into this field."
In December, Honda introduced the hybrid version of its Civic model, which gets 29.5 km per liter of gasoline, and Mazda Motor and Mitsubishi Motors also have similar hybrid vehicle systems.
"Toyota is now ready to introduce 10 new models of hybrid cars by 2005," says Keiko Sato, company spokeswoman. "This is to meet the growing demand for vehicles that are environmentally friendly."
If the Kyoto Protocol on climate change enters into force, 2003 could be the year that this new technology takes off. The Japanese government faces the daunting task of meeting its Protocol target - cutting emissions by six percent of 1990 levels by 2012.
Japan, the world's sixth leading polluter, emitted 12.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 1990, a figure that climbed to 13.7 billion tons annually by 1999.
The transport sector alone must reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent. One million hybrid cars circulating - replacing standard gasoline-powered cars - would mean 300,000 tons fewer of carbon dioxide emitted each year, according to the Environment Ministry.
In addition to the hybrid system, the government is also stepping up efforts to popularize the use of hydrogen fuel cells in motor vehicles. Fuel cells generate electricity through chemical reaction that occurs when oxygen is combined with hydrogen, and the resulting byproduct is water. The authorities expect that by 2020 there will be five million fuel cell vehicles on this country's roads.
"There is no doubt that hybrid cars, led by Japanese technology, are an effective effort to combat global warming," Yurika Ayukawa, specialist on global warming at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), told Tierramérica.
However, their relatively high price and the lack of public awareness about the environmental benefits stand in the way of the car's greater popularity, she added.
Japan would be able to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent if hybrid cars captured 60 percent of the domestic car market and if other measures, such as renewable energies, switching to smaller vehicles, and widespread use of fuel cell equipment were also implemented, according to WWF estimates.
* Suvendrini Kakuchi is an IPS correspondent
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