EDWIN ADJETEY ADJEI

PG7247521

MPHIL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

FUEL AND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY

ASSIGNMENT 3

2ND MAY 2022

Answer
Vehicles play a conspicuous role in the modern industrial economy, offering rapid, reliable,
and convenient mobility on demand to an ever-growing number of people in countries
throughout the world, but this mobility and freedom comes at a cost to the environment (
Harrington & McConnell, 2003). Vehicles consume a lot of energy before they ever make it
to the open. Automotive production leaves a giant footprint because a lot of materials must
be created before it is set to be used. Vehicles are a major source of environmental pollution
and land congestion; rapid growth in numbers of vehicles worldwide ensures that these issues
will remain important for the foreseeable future ( Harrington & McConnell, 2003). Air
pollution is a growing menace in the world and was responsible for 9% of global deaths in
2017. The growing deterioration in air quality in Africa is well documented based on its effects,
deaths as a result of air pollution in Africa increased from 164,000 in 1990 to 258,000 in 2017
representing a growth of nearly 60% (Ayetor, Mbonigaba, Ampofo, & Sunnu, 2021).

The Government of Ghana is taking steps to ensure the implementation of standards to regulate
carbon emissions in vehicles operating in the country; to acknowledge the role of hazardous
pollutants and to implement strategic policies, supply services and regulate market forces to
address economic, environmental and human health problems (Asante, 2022).

Fuel taxes serve a very important role for the environment and there is a risk of backlash of
increased emissions if they are abolished. Fuel taxes have restrained growth in fuel demand
and associated carbon emissions. Although fuel demand is large and growing, it shows that it
would have been much higher in the absence of domestic fuel taxes (Sterner, 2007). Fuel
taxation causes consumers to drive less, to choose more efficient cars, and potentially to choose
cars running on alternative fuels. Increases in taxation can help to limit effects of other policies
that causes reduction of fuel costs. Differentiated fuel taxes can be applied to support or limit
the use of specific fuels. Fuel tax increases help to restrain growth in transport activity hence
reducing greenhouse gases and particulate matter emissions. These policies that discourage
driving not only reduce emissions of conventional pollutants; they also tend to reduce
congestion and accidents The revenue from the taxes is earmarked for roads and other
transportation investments. Road construction, upgrades, and maintenance have mostly been
financed by gas tax as experienced in Ghana and other foreign countries since the institution
of the first tax on fuel. Gas taxes are widely perceived as unfair to the poor and to those whose
circumstances and life choices have locked them into a high-mileage lifestyle. And their
effectiveness is challenged, not only by the public but also by some economists, who argue that
the low-price elasticity of motor fuel will require very large tax increases to have the desired
effect ( Harrington & McConnell, 2003).Even though the response to fuel tax increases tends
to be very limited in the short term, it is somewhat greater in the long term (Fulton, 2004).
Fuel economy is most often measured by the distance a vehicle can travel on a given volume
of fuel. Fuel economy is an imprecise measure of energy efficiency as it does not take into
account vehicle mass, passenger or cargo capacity, engine power or other attributes that may
affect the value of a vehicle’s services. In addition, different fuels contain varying amounts of
energy per volume. For example, diesel fuel contains approximately 11% more energy per
volume than gasoline (Greene, 2015).The average fuel economy is regulated by the
government-mandated CAFE (corporate Average Fuel Economy) standard, and was
implemented for improving fuel efficiency and reducing environmental pollution and
CO2 emission, the major cause of the greenhouse effect. Each vehicle faces a separate fuel
economy target based on its size, or footprint. Older vehicles would eventually be scrapped
and replaced with new, lighter and more fuel-efficient ones. Studies have shown that every
10% reduction in vehicle weight can result in 5 to 8% greater fuel efficiency. In terms of the
greenhouse effect, reducing vehicle weight by 100 kg results in CO2 reduction. When vehicle
weight is reduced, the power needed for acceleration and braking is also reduced. The use of
smaller and lighter vehicles may compromise the safety of motorists (Mallick, 2020). By
reducing the cost per mile of travel, CAFE caused an increase in vehicle use, reducing the
effectiveness of the policy by about 10 –30% below what would be expected from
consideration only of fuel-economy improvements. CAFE is also held by many to have
encouraged the development of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and the shift in passenger fleet
composition toward trucks, which have much lower fuel-economy standards. The changes
induced in the fleet, both the increase in the number of trucks and, within the car sector, toward
lighter and more fuel-efficient cars are argued to have caused an increase in the number and
severity of accidents ( Harrington & McConnell, 2003).
Economists have favoured fuel taxes as a means to reduce fuel consumption because taxes
give maximum flexibility to both vehicle manufacturers and purchasers and because they
influence fuel consumption through both fuel demand and vehicle supply by making travel
more expensive (thereby reducing vehicle miles travelled) and by creating an economic
incentive for manufacturers to build efficient vehicles for consumers to purchase them
(Plotkin, 2004). Fuel-economy standards work slowly, as manufacturers start selling more
efficient vehicles, and people retire their older cars and trucks. That turnover takes time. A
higher gas tax kicks in immediately, giving people incentives to drive less, carpool
more, and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles as soon as possible. Direct oil taxes boost
consumer gasoline prices, deterring extravagant spending or vehicle purchases, as well as
wasteful driving behaviours among vehicle owners, and lowering emissions while also
safeguarding the world's scarce oil stocks. Gasoline use would really decrease if gas charges
were implemented (Sterner, 2007). A tax on gasoline makes these alternative fuels more
competitive, whereas fuel-economy standards do not. Even though gas taxes were not
originally and primarily implemented for environmental purposes, the control of the use of
vehicles associated with gas taxes preserves oil reserves and reduce harmful emissions into
the environment and this contributes to the world’s need to protect the environment. Carbon
emissions are significantly reduced by introducing a long run policy of high taxes that raises
the consumer price. The effect of gasoline taxes on global carbon emissions makes it a
significant instrument of climate policy (Sterner, 2007). By CBO’s estimate, increasing the
federal tax on gasoline would achieve a percent reduction in gasoline consumption in the
long run (once all existing vehicles were retired) at lower economic costs overall than either
of the CAFE policies considered.Although both gas taxes and fuel economy would produce
fuel savings gradually as old passenger vehicles were replaced by more-fuel-efficient ones,
the gas tax would provide greater immediate savings by also encouraging vehicle owners to
drive less. In contrast, higher CAFE standards would give new-vehicle owners an incentive to
drive more because higher fuel economy would decrease their gasoline cost per mile and
would not alter the driving incentives for owners of existing vehicles at all (Congressional
Budget Office, 2004).
In conclusion, Fuel economy is an imprecise measure of energy efficiency as it does not take
into account all important factors and although lighter and more fuel-efficient vehicles reduce
carbon emissions; they also compromise the safety of motorists which therefore partially
nullifies the impact of the reduction of carbon emissions. Relatively, gas taxes reduce
gasoline consumption at lower economic cost concurrently serving as source of revenue for
the country’s transportation and investment requirements. Gas taxes ensures the control of
accidents and the reduction of harmful emission hence protecting the environment and the
life in it. It is likely that gas taxes would be the most effective policy instrument and that is
what I would support in my country.
References
Harrington, W., & McConnell, V. (2003). Motor Vehicles and the Environment. Washington, D.C.

Asante, S. (2022, 2 12). Ghana to regulate carbon emissions in vehicles. Retrieved from Ghana News
Agency: https://www.gna.org.gh/1.21383895

Ayetor, G. K., Mbonigaba, I., Ampofo, J., & Sunnu, A. (2021). Investigating the state of road vehicle
emissions in Africa: A case study of Ghana and Rwanda. Transportation Research
Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

Congressional Budget Office. (2004). Fuel Economy Standards Versus a Gasoline Tax. Economic and
Budget Issue Brief.

Fulton, L. M. (2004). Transportation and Energy Policy. In I. E. Agency, Encyclopedia of Energy (pp.
189-201). Paris.

Greene, D. L. (2015). In C. Cleveland, & C. Morris, Dictionary of Energy (Second Edition) (pp. 217-
246).

Mallick, P. K. (2020). Materials, Design and Manufacturing for Lightweight Vehicles. Woodhead
Publishing.

Plotkin, S. (2004). In C. Cutler, Encyclopedia of Energy.

Sterner, T. (2007). Fuel taxes: An important instrument for climate policy. Energy Policy.