Gas fuels and environment

Environment protection is one of the major concerns for public and local authorities worldwide. Automotive transports are in a large part responsible of the daily pollution of urban areas. Gaseous fuels can notably contribute to a reduction of this pollution. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part analyses the reasons and components of pollution in the transport sector: increasing use of private cars with respect to public transport systems for short distance travels, preponderance of road transport for long distance goods delivery, increase of air traffic for passengers and freight transports. For the air pollution itself, three levels are considered: the local CO, VOC (volatile organic compounds), SO2, NOx and particulates concentration, the regional pollution which corresponds to spatially diluted pollutants over a wider zone (acid rain and photochemical pollution), and the worldwide pollution with the greenhouse effect and the high altitude ozone problem. The vehicles noise in another important source of urban pollution. The second part of the paper analyses the environmental advantages of gaseous fuels and compares the combustion properties and the pollutants and noise emissions from natural gas for vehicles and LPG with respect to the classical liquid fuels used for private cars and trucks. The third part of the paper is devoted to the US Clean Air Act which regroups the actions developed since 1970 to fight against the photochemical pollution and the 'smog' phenomena. Its historical evolution is summarized: the creation of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the norms for air quality (NAAQS) and the 1990's eleven amendments about the classification of States pollution, the pollutants emission norms and the development of clean vehicles. (J.S.)