US and Germany Produce Environmentally Unsafe Cars

Experts recommend Japanese cars as the most environmentally safe
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) published its annual rating of environmentally safe and unsafe cars sold on the American market. The top positions in the rating of environmentally safe cars are held by autos with gas and hybrid engines. Majority of active pollutants are all-wheel off-highway cars and SUV.

The ACEEE rating is based upon three key criteria: the amount of consumed fuel, the scale and structure of exhaust - if exhaust contains substances destructive for the ozone layer and intensifies global warming. The highest estimate of 100 points is given to an absolutely environmentally safe car, however experts have failed to find a serial auto corresponding the criterion.

As a result of the tests, the highest point of 57 is conferred to Honda Civic GX with an engine operating on compressed gas. Then go cars with hybrid engines Honda Insight (gas - electricity), Toyota Prius declared the car of the year at the auto show in Detroit and Honda Civic Hybrid (petrol - electricity). Other cars on the list are those made by Asian producers - Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai and Scion. Majority of them have petrol engines, manual gearboxes, electronic engine management systems and exhaust control systems.

Cars with high-power but uneconomical engines, most of them are all-wheel off-highway cars, are the most environmentally unsafe. The list opens with the most active pollutant - Volkswagen's Touareg; it also includes Ford Excursion, Toyota Land Cruiser, HUMMER H2 and sports auto Lamborghini Murcielago.

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy is a nonprofit organization making ratings for the purpose of persuading people to use more environmentally safe technologies. The Agency for Environmental Protection introduces stricter exhaust standards for US cars every year and protects the environment from active pollutants. Until recently, American consumers preferred uneconomical and environmentally unsafe cars. The US stock of cars is now the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide and unhealthy exhaust. America's total amount of exhaust is bigger than the exhaust of all cars of the planet with the exception of China, Russia, India and Japan.

Mikhail Khmelev