Methanol Fuel Cells: Practical Power

The Situation

• California is home to five of the seven most polluted cities in the country. According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), more than 90% of Californians breath unhealthy air.
• Greater Los Angeles has the highest ozone levels in the United States; Ventura County, San Diego, the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento also have serious ozone problems.

• The South Coast Air Quality Management District estimates that poor air quality imposes more than $9 billion annually in health care costs on Southland residents and that 1,600 premature deaths occur among citizens with chronic respiratory diseases.

• Motor vehicles contribute 50% of the state's ozone-forming emissions.

• The state's 32 million people drive 306 billion miles per year.

Today's Air Quality Improvements

CARB estimates that the following reductions have occured in vehicular emissions due to cleaner-burning gasoline:

• The result is the equivalent of removing 3.5 million vehicles from California's streets and freeways annually.
• Levels of highly toxic benzene in the atmosphere have been reduced by 50%.

Reductions in Poor Air Quality Days

• Greater Los Angeles enjoyed its best air-quality year on record in 1996, with seven Stage-1 smog alerts compared to 14 Stage-1 smog alerts in 1995 and 23 in 1994. In 1970, the region experienced 148 Stage-1 smog alerts.
• The Bay Area and Sacramento had record-breaking heat and ozone-forming conditions in 1996, but peak smog levels in those regions were 10% lower than in 1994 and 1995.

• In the summer of 1996, San Diego reported no poor air days for the first time in history.

Health Benefits

• CARB estimates cleaner burning gasoline will reduce human cancer risk related to gasoline exposure by 30 to 40%.

For More Information: Contact the Methanol Institute at (202) 467-5050 or at MI@methanol.org.




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