An automobile carbon emission analyzer.

Abstract

Fossil fuels are being continuously used in the transport sector. The burning of this fuels produces gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides which lead to global warming. Most people are still unaware of the global warming contributed by automobiles thus, do not consider it to be a big problem in years to come especially in least developed countries. Many people have very little knowledge of automobile carbon emissions caused by them in Uganda. For example, almost 99% of the vehicles in country use products of fossil fuels. Since Uganda doesn’t manufacture or assemble vehicles, the country highly depends on reconditioned or used cars that are majorly imported from Asia. Currently, there is no measure of automobile emissions for the vehicles that are imported into the country. The current standing control measure, is a ban on importation of automobiles that are more than 8 years old. Notwithstanding, is control measure applies to a category of automobiles. This doesn’t guarantee that automobiles imported in the country that are less than 8 years old, less carbon emitters. With the ever-increasing road traffic in the cities and highways, automobile emissions are evident. Uganda being one of the least developed countries in the world, the country will still depend on used car imports in both short, medium and long terms. This implies that it might take quite a considerable time and efforts to phase out automobiles that use fossils. This severely affects the ecosystems and disturb ecological balance. Because of this treacherous effect of global warming, some solutions must be devised for control and measure. The proposed carbon emission analyzer device can be used by customs, traffic officers and automobile insurers. It is estimated that transport sources in developing countries contribute about 4% of the global fossil carbon dioxide versus 18% by industrialized countries. The cost of urban air pollution is estimated to be 2% of GDP in developed countries and more than 5% in developing countries. With an annual vehicle registration growth of over 30% in 2008 and a population growth rate of 6%, the number of automobiles in Kampala city of Uganda is expected to continue growing exponentially. Most of the vehicles used are imported into the country when quite old with worn out engines and low energy efficiencies. As a result, such vehicles profusely emit exhaust gases which may be harmful to both human health and the environment. Controlling pollution from the transport sector is vital to improving the quality of air and protecting public health. The main types of exhaust gases from the automobiles were CO2, NOx, CO, NO and HC.