A lot has been done to reduce automobile pollution, from development of innovative emission control technologies to establishment of Inspection and Maintenance programs. But each year sees more cars on the road, traveling more miles, and the pollution control measures taken so far have not been sufficient to solve the ozone problem in many large cities. Clean fuels have a number of inherent properties that make them cleaner than conventional gasoline. Combustion of any carbon-based fuel produces carbon dioxide. But the overall impact of a given fuel on global warming depends on how the fuel is made.
Clean fuels have benefits that reach beyond their air quality advantages.
New fuels in the marketplace give consumers new choices and could decrease our dependence on imported oil. Power plants that produce electricity do pollute. But these plants are often in rural areas where the emissions do not drive pollution levels above health standards. Also, efficient emission controls can be installed and maintained more easily on individual power plants than on millions of vehicles. The driving range of today's electric cars is limited by the amount of power the battery can provide.