Breath of Fresh Air

Since the drafting of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999,   nothing has greatly changed.  We still fill our lungs with smog-filled air courtesy of the thousands of motor vehicles that take to the streets every day.  There was a move to require all motor vehicles to undergo emission testing prior to having their registration renewed.  It was good, at the start.  Then people started to realize that “blue grease” would drastically alter emission test results.  Even a dilapidated truck with the worst case of lung cancer would pass the most state-of-the-art emission test.

Then there was the move to convert gas guzzlers to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) smokers.  It was a pretty good idea at first, as it improved air quality by almost ten percent.  Plus, LPG was very much cheaper than fossil fuel.  This was a big plus, especially for public utility white demons.  Then came the fly-by-night conversion shops that lead many to abandon the cause as LPG fumes started leaking into their motor vehicles.  Even if the conversion process has greatly improved since that time, many have been traumatized enough to shun going the LPG way.  Plus, the price of LPG have skyrocketed since then that many have opted to stick to the tried and tested fossil-fuel driven engine.

Now, people are talking about hybrid motor vehicles that allow you to switch from fossil fuel to electricity to power the engine.  Pretty nifty idea, until you find out how much each unit costs.  One may argue that the fuel saving feature alone is enough to justify buying one.  Let me know if you spend around an additional four hundred thousand bucks worth of fuel in a year because that’s the most minimal of price difference between a regular vehicle and a hybrid.

One may argue, “But a hybrid is very economical on fuel.”  True, if you make a direct comparison with gasoline powered motor vehicles.  New technology diesel fuelled vehicles have proven to be just as economical as hybrids without the astronomical start-up cost.   One may insist that if left to start/stop, slow moving city driving, the hybrid beats non-hybrids on fuel consumption as the battery almost always kicks in and drives the engine.  Again, that is true.  But use the battery every so often, and you end up having to eventually buy a new set of batteries. 

Now here is where the problem lies.  The batteries of hybrid motor vehicles are made up of elements like lithium and cobalt.  If you are well aware of the extraction process of these two elements, then you know we’re not really doing Mother Nature a big favour.  Extracting cobalt entails using a lot of clean water, while the easiest and cheapest way to extract lithium involves evaporating salty brine in ponds lined with toxic PVC.  By using a hybrid, you decrease greenhouse gas emission by polluting the waters.  I don’t really see that as the most logical of trade-offs.

The solution isn’t really about which type of motor vehicle you drive.  It is all about proper motor vehicle maintenance and strict enforcement of the implementing rules and regulations of the clean air act.  Spending time to make sure you check the efficiency your vehicle burns fuel, would go a long way.

Oh, and if only the departments or offices responsible for making sure vehicles that fail emission testing don’t get their registrations renewed actually do their job, we might actually be able to take a breath of much fresher air. 

Then again, even imported surplus vehicles somehow get issued a Certificate of Compliance (COC).  Forgive me if I’ll do my best to hold my breath a little longer.  Blue grease just pollutes the air too much.