The World Resources Report 1996-97 expects energy demand to rise by as much as 44 per cent by the year 2010. Emissions of carbon dioxide from industrial activity are also expected to go up accordingly, from 30 to 40 per cent by 2010. The transport sector, and more particularly the car, is a major culprit. In that same year, transport was also responsible for two-thirds of the additional growth in energy demand in the developed countries, compared with about 15 per cent in developing countries and economies in transition. Ninety seven per cent of fuel used in transport is non-renewable fossil fuel.
Transport is also a major polluter.
An average car with a two-litre engine driven 20,000 kilometres a year will release in that time five tonnes of the gases linked to global warming. About 80 per cent of CO2 comes from burning fossil fuels and tropical forests. Certain gases make the earth's atmosphere work like a heat-trapping greenhouse. They allow solar radiation to pass through to the earth, while trapping radiation going from the earth. This is known as the greenhouse effect.