10 America's worst anti-environment vehicles/cars 2013 ~ Internet Business Ideas

10 America's worst anti-environment vehicles/cars 2013

10 America's dirtiest vehicles 2013

Less than 5.7% of the total energy burned in fuel to power light-duty vehicles in the United States is consumed by alternate fuel vehicles (including E85/Flex Fuel, gasoline/electric hybrids, electrics, compressed natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells and other technologies), according to the Early Release Overview of the 2013 Annual Energy Outlook Report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The report projects that by 2040, alternative fuel vehicles will consume about 13.7% of our light-duty vehicle fuel. In other words, conventional fuel (gasoline and diesel) light-duty vehicles will be with us for many years to come, exhaling pollutants and making the world a dirtier place. Some vehicles are dirtier than others.

For the purposes of rating the dirtiest of the lot, we’ve concentrated on light-duty vehicles (cars, SUVs, minivans and pickups) powered by gasoline, E85 and diesel fuel. It’s nearly impossible to calculate the cleanliness of battery-powered vehicles, because there are so many different energy sources used to generate electricity (coal, nuclear, hydropower, wind, solar and other sources each have environmental impacts, even though the actual operation of a battery-powered vehicle releases no atmospheric contaminants).

The light-duty car category excludes some pickup trucks that are marketed to consumers, like the Ford F-250 and F-350 models. Pickup trucks with GVWR over 8,500 lbs and passenger vehicles with GVWR of 10,000 lbs or more are exempt from federal fuel economy testing. We’ve selected vehicles by EPA class: Minicompact Cars; Subcompact Cars; Compact Cars; Midsize Cars; Large Cars; Small Station Wagons; Midsize Station Wagons; Small Pickup Trucks; Small SUVs; Special Purpose Vehicle; Special Purpose Vehicle (minivan); Standard Pickup Trucks; Standard SUVs; and Two Seaters.

To further refine, we’ve added a category for brands that are sold in low volume in the United States, with total brand sales below 5,000 per year last year. This category will include exotics and high-end luxury vehicles.

America’s Dirtiest Vehicles have the lowest scores in their class in three EPA categories combined: Combined Fuel Economy; Air Pollution Score; and Greenhouse Gas Score. Combined Fuel Economy is “a weighted average of City and Highway MPG values that is calculated by weighting the City value by 55% and the Highway value by 45%,” according to the EPA’s standards. Air Pollution Score rates tailpipe emissions for pollutants that cause smog, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the cleanest and 1 the dirtiest. Greenhouse Gas Score assigns a whole number from 1 to 10, 10 being best and cleanest, for the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that escapes a vehicle’s tailpipe. The vehicles with the lowest total score (combined fuel economy + air pollution score + greenhouse gas score) we’ve deemed America’s Dirtiest Vehicles. All information is sourced from the U.S. Department of Energy and US. Environmental Protection Agency’s FuelEconomy.gov, the official U.S. government source for vehicle fuel economy, greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions information.

The EPA classifications result in a few anomalies, and one result in particular that is very misleading. The Toyota Tacoma ranks as America’s Dirtiest Small Pickup Truck with a total score of 26 (17 mpg + 5 GHG + 4 AP). In a class that used to include the Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon and others, only the Tacoma and Nissan Frontier remain. All of the other vehicles have either been discontinued or suspended for the 2013 model year. If the Tacoma had been rated with the Standard Pickup Trucks, it would have been among the cleanest available.