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Sustainable transport

Car design

Transporting people and goods is a necessity of our modern lives. Transport uses energy that mostly comes from fossil fuels.1 These release carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change2.

Electric and hybrid cars reduce fuel dependency.3

NRMA 2011

New car designs, technology and planning can reduce our impact on the environment while still meeting our transport needs.

Electric cars4 have an electric motor and batteries that plug in to charge. Read about hybrid cars. Examine some new car design features to reduce fuel consumption.

Alternative fuels

Cars can use more environmentally friendly fuels. Biodiesel5 can be made from plants and waste oils using simple chemical reactions6. Find out how ethanol7 fuel is made from plants.

Explore food security and ethical issues8 associated with ethanol production. Examine environmentally friendly and alternative fuels9.

Brazil produces the largest amount of ethanol of any country in the world. Cars are now designed to run on blended fuel or pure ethanol.10

Steve Jurvetson 11 CC BY 2.012

Hydrogen fuel cells may be a future solution as they have minimal environmental impact.

Limit your reliance on cars

Calculate your carbon impact from your use of transport by completing a Transport energy audit.13 Investigate how to ‘green’14 your driving behaviour.

Reduce your environmental impact by limiting your reliance on motor vehicles

Orgullmoore15 CC BY-SA 3.016

teacher suggested links17

Syllabus links

Links

  1. http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html
  2. http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/Understanding.aspx
  3. http://www.mynrma.com.au/motoring/buy-sell/buying-advice/green/electric-cars.htm
  4. http://www.hybridcars.com/electric-car
  5. http://www.biofuelsassociation.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=70
  6. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/5044-invention-nation-biodiesel-video.htm#making%20biodiesel
  7. http://www.biofuelsassociation.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=71
  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_vs._fuel
  9. http://www.mynrma.com.au/motoring/car-care/fuel.htm
  10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil
  11. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biofuels.jpg
  12. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
  13. http://www.sustainableschools.nsw.edu.au/Default.aspx?tabid=179
  14. http://www.mynrma.com.au/motoring/car-care/green-driving-fuel-efficient.htm
  15. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Razor_Scooter.JPG
  16. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
  17. http://www.delicious.com/search?p=sustainable%20transport+user:clisites2see&jtf=Y&partial_type=N