Which car company pollutes the most per customer?

by Alex Law,Auto123
The answer may surprise you

If you measured the amount of emissions sent into the air by its products this year, which Canadian car company do you think would be the worst polluter per customer?

The answer is -- Honda Canada.

Okay, you're thinking that Honda Canada can't be the right answer to that because they're widely known as being a leader in engine design, particularly with regard to getting the most power from the gasoline and creating the least waste as emissions, or that it was some sort of trick question.

Well, if that's you're response, then the trick is that you're not thinking at all. By that I mean that you are following the incredibly obtuse attitude to the problem of engine emissions that's prevalent in society today and restricting your concern to new automobiles. We need to be viewing the problem from a wider perspective.

If you look at all of the stuff besides those popular vehicles that Honda Canada sells new to its customers (lawn mowers, marine engines, generators, tillers, trimmers, snow blowers and so on), you quickly see that we have many other serious emissions sources to worry about that, for the most part, escape our attention.

The engines that run those things are considerably more harmful to the environment than any new car sold today, or in recent memory.

According to various government agencies in the U.S., 2006 model year lawnmowers contribute 93 times as much smog-forming emissions as 2006 model year cars, and there are 52 million residential and commercial mowers in use there right now, operating three billion hours a year. In California alone, lawn mowers create more than two percent of the smog-forming pollution from all engines.

This wouldn't matter if our lungs were able to pick and choose the air it uses as oxygen like it was perusing some sort of Honda menu. "Yes, I'll start with the Descharge de Civic as an appetizer and for the main course I'd like the L'emission de Accord Hybrid."

"Very good, sir. How about something from our dessert tray? We have a nice smog-asbord from Honda non-auto products that will surely make you cough."

"Thanks, but I'm trying to watch what I breathe."

The way it works, of course, is that you're forced to breathe that stuff from the Honda lawn mower right along with the exhaust from the Accord Hybrid.

Now, this is not an attack on Honda Canada for selling products with engines that pollute a lot more than its vehicles do, though I bet the folks at Honda Canada think it is. After all, they are providing arrays of legal products that are widely coveted by consumers across the country, and if their auto engine history is anything to go by they're probably doing a better job than most of their competitors.

But the exhaust from all of those non-automotive Honda products is much, much worse than anything coming out of the tailpipe of any new vehicle on the road today regardless of whose badge is on the front of it, or indeed the vast majority of old vehicles on the road today of any kind.

We need to remember this when we go around thumping the tub for tougher emissions standards. By all means, we should continue to force the car companies to improve their engines so that they put fewer pollutants into the air. But we must also acknowledge that through their engineering advances (many of which were forced on them by legislation) the emissions problems from new vehicles have been reduced dramatically. Really old or classic vehicles are another matter, but that's an argument and a touchy enthusiast community for another time.

Right now, it might be smart if we gave more thought to the realities of engine pollution from a broader perspective. That could mean tougher legislation in the future, but it could also be helped by smarter consumer choices. Whenever possible, for example, it would be helpful if consumers bought equipment with electric motors rather than gasoline engines.

Electric vehicles have their problems, but it can't be denied that they don't put the same mix of pollutants into the air as a gas-powered car, and the exact same thing can be said for lawn mowers and trimmers and so on.