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Navigating Environmental Challenges in the American Auto Industry

Aug 3, 2023 | 0 comments

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Aug 3, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Background

The auto industry in America has thrived since the early 1900s when the industry started, even though it’s in Germany and France where the design of the modern automobile came from in the late 1800s, the first half of the 20th century was dominated by the American(May 3). According to May, Henry Ford came up with mass production of the designs that became a universal standard; the three automobiles group in us by the year 1920 was Ford, General Motors as well as Chrysler (9). However, the auto industry has proven to be among the top industries that are faced with environmental issues and risks around the globe and more precisely in the United States.

 

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According to Domansky the culture in the automobile industry has been against the added feature in the vehicles for instance over half a century ago when the seatbelt was being introduced (54). The industry fought against it although it was introduced as a way of providing safety and reducing the rates of casualties in the accidents, the industry also was in defiance about the requirement that they need to install catalytic converters which aimed at reducing the air emissions swell as the airbag requirement amongst other safety and environmental standards (Domansky 61).

Currently, the industry is fighting against the effort by the appropriate agencies in reducing emissions as well as bettering the fuel economy. The auto industry in America has been staging a good fight with the government concerning the interference of the government in regards to a bailout. Golinska stated that despite the complaints from lobbyists as well as the top management, the auto engineers have succeeded in building the cleanest and safest vehicles in history and this was well catalyzed by the previous Obama administration which supported this initiative (102).

American land pattern was built around both personal and automobile transportation. The automobile is a necessity to every American and it has become part and parcel of American life and therefore a better gas mileage, as well as lower emissions, is a vital national goal. The manufacturing of vehicles has now turned global, and the whole world is working towards reducing the effects of climate change and producing environmentally friendly products. With the existing competition in the automobile industry worldwide the future projection based on the two perspectives dictates that the market will be dominated by the best environment-friendly industry and based on that the number of electric vehicles has substantially increased as the manufacturers have started turning their attention to it (Newman & Jeffrey 30-54).

Analysis

There are numerous emissions and other environmental hazards that have massively been contributed by the auto industry. According to Golinska, the industry faces issues like dealing with brake debris, painting, tire particles as well as gas emissions (19). The noxious impacts of brake debris, as well as tire particles, demonstrate the need for a broader capacity of consideration for the environmental effects of automobiles. Golinska further stated that these elements increase the toxicity levels in the surrounding soil and, on the other hand, tire particles, result in the creation of black carbon (20). Together it has been proven that the pollutants cause lung toxicity as well as it is responsible for a substantial proportion of particle matter in the urban areas. Such effects have a considerable implication in both the design and the use of the automobile.

Painting and coating are responsible for 62% or the biggest share of environmental effects during the built-up of automobiles. Davies highlighted the fact that the mechanism used like “in-mold painting” can minimize discharges of dangerous toxic material like nickel, hexavalent chromium, and copper in the atmosphere (120-125). According to Gallagher, the progressions in paint and coating chemistry and the decreasing in the level of the toxic elements used may lead to a considerable reduction in the negative environmental effects that currently exemplify the auto manufacturing industry (61).

Captivatingly, the gas emission effect from the US‘s reliance on foreign oil as well as the fact that the many regimes have not fully popularized the electric car options like Tesla. Fossil fuel alone controls the economy to a larger extent as the oil business remains to be among the richest businesses in the world. New regulations were made by EPA which required American-cars together with the lightweight trucks to 34.5 mpg average as by the year 2016 (Golinska 157), and by 2012, this got a major boost from the Obama administration as they announced a new standard which was a bit strict and required the new vehicle to have a fuel efficiency of 54.5mpg by the year 2025. This demonstrates the fact that the government is responding to the critical issues of environmental concern. Therefore the less pollution we have, the better, this will equally resonate with the customers in the sense that they will need a higher fuel efficiency vehicle to save the gas and in doing this they will be reducing the gas emission in the environment (Golinska 108).

The conventional argument against these standards is that if the markets demand efficient low-emission cars, the market will drive the manufacturers to produce them, but on the flip side, to a larger extent, the government holds the critical role of making facilitation on this, with the innovation channeled towards the speedy production of the critical elements needed in the market and also for the future as innovation would bring the sense of pro-activeness. The need and demand for innovation that would meet the dynamic standards will enhance the organization’s support within the automobile industries for the engineers to build something new and efficient and also environment-friendly (Domansky 49-54).

The fact that the entire world is fighting the devastating effects of climate change, as well as safety regulation, has offered opportunities for engineers to assess every feature of the automobile as well as the result the technology has made it possible to auto-fill electronic and making material lighter and durable. According to Domansky, The production of a self-driving car can be seen as a major step towards the safe and environment-friendly production of the vehicle, and with that technology is viewed as an effective tool in fighting negative environmental impact (83).

A business that is constructed with environmental consideration has the likelihood of wealth as well as creation, as well as the interests of the human population, is higher. Nevertheless, when enterprises choose to minimize the significance of this relationship by not considering it, it often hurts the organization, and in return; it will affect the economic gains due to the cost of recovering the natural environment. For instance, Gallagher states that according to the economic specialist, Chinese GDP is consumed due to the costs of pollution that amount to 4 to 8% of the total GDP (13).

Options

One of the options that the automobile industry has is turning to green practices. Though some companies have started implementing the green initiative for the last five years, this initiative will involve incorporating recyclable materials into the manufacturing of the vehicle as well as choosing the fuel options that would decrease their intake of fossil fuels as well as making the vehicle parts which are not only reliable but also eco-friendly (Davies 32). The use of aluminum is recommended as it lightweight as well as malleable hence it can be used in the production of any vehicle. Although due to safety measures a vehicle cannot be manufactured solely on aluminum, it is projected that by 2025, vehicles will consist of approximately 550 pounds of aluminum (Golinska 37). This will result in a far more efficient, environmentally friendly as well as cheaper mode of transportation and the fact that it can be easily recycled makes it even more ideal.

The air conditioning devices in both our homes and the cars emit a despicable amount of carbon which piles up into the atmosphere and in return destroys the ozone layer daily. The reduction of heat levels in the city will surely reduce carbon emissions drastically. The auto industry has got an option of backing the reduction of heat level by encouraging and coming up with campaigns to paint the tarmac streets completely white to decrease the amount of heat buildup on the streets. It has been proven that the white streets reduce the temperature of a city by approximately over 44 degrees Fahrenheit, which simply implies the fact that record heat could easily be compared to a considerably warm day (Davies 92).

Thirdly the automobile industry should support the initiative of GPR on risk assessment. This initiative entails having ground-penetrating radar that provides accurate information of what is beneath the earth. This is essential as it allows the scientists to evaluate the landfill confines, draw the level of contamination plumes as well as establish the bearing of contaminant migration. This will give the automobile industry a clear indication about what they need to recycle the most to reduce the number of vehicles found on landfills as well as minimize the total amount of carbon emissions created by the landfills (Gallagher 16).

Recommendation for the automobile industry

Reducing the environmental impact that the automobile industry has caused will take more than just the industry to bring the environment to its natural state. The government has a major role to play by coming up with strict policies that would guarantee a clean environment. Among the measures that the government needs to take is to invest in providing resources in the design of the vehicles in a way that the vehicle would accommodate less poisonous elements and also reduce wear on tires and breaks.

There should also be strict policies by the government agencies that would restrict the company precisely to be using recyclable materials in the production. This would encourage the industry to set more funds for research with the consideration of the demand and the regulation that has been set hence coming up with efficient eco-friendly vehicles.

Work cited

Davies, Geoffrey. Materials for Automobile Bodies. Amsterdam: Elsevier, Butterworth Heinemann, 2003. case study is a website owner but has violated several copyright laws. In the website YouRule.com he finds copy protected mp3 music files and downloads them. Furthermore, through his Internet resource.

Domansky, Leon R. Automobile Industry: Current Issues. New York: Novinka Books, 2006. case study is a website owner but has violated several copyright laws. In the website YouRule.com he finds copy protected mp3 music files and downloads them. Furthermore, through his Internet resource.

Gallagher, Kelly S. China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development. , 2006. Print.

Gallagher, Kelly SimsKS, (2003). Foreign Technology in China’s Automobile Industry: Implications for Energy, Economic Development, and Environment. China Environment Series Nº 6. pp. 1-18

Golinska, Paulina. Environmental Issues in Automotive Industry: Design, Production, and End-of-Life Phase. , 2016. Print.

May, George S. The Automobile Industry, 1896-1920. New York: Facts on File, 1990. Print.

Newman, Peter, and Jeffrey Kenworthy. “Overcoming Barriers to the End of Automobile Dependence.” (2015). Print.

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