DOUBLING the fuel efficiency of every car in the US would cut the country’s huge carbon emissions by 10 per cent – enough to meet its target under the Kyoto protocol, should it ever sign up.
The key, say Rob Jackson and William Schlesinger from Duke University in North Carolina, is to persuade drivers to replace their cars with hybrid electric vehicles (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 101, p 15827). While the average car on US roads in 2001 had an efficiency of 9 kilometres per litre, and new cars 12 km/l, HEVs can run at over 20…
