Mazda 2007 Annual Report Download - page 27
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page 40, the Mazda Global Environmental
Charter).
Issues Confronting the Automotive
Industry and the Industry’s Response
Within the automotive industry, at this
time, the most practical and economically
viable source of energy is fossil fuels. As
more automobiles are driven worldwide,
we must work harder to reduce CO2
emissions, whether through purifying
exhaust gases or by improving fuel
consumption efficiency. At the same
time, ongoing efforts are aimed at
ending the industry’s dependence on
fossil fuels.
Initiatives are under way to produce
biomass for fuel on a commercial scale,
chiefly in South America, northern
Europe and the United States. Practical
electric-powered cars are restricted to
short-range travel, due to the existing
technological limitations of their batteries.
Hydrogen is an even more limited fuel
source, albeit one that is widely regarded
by government agencies and private
organizations as most likely to become
the primary fuel for transportation. The
environmental issues that confront the
automotive industry have a number of
facets—in particular, they vary by global
region, vehicle properties and time
periods. The automotive industry must
accordingly have a wide range of
solutions on hand. The problems cannot
be solved by the industry alone, however.
Governments and other public-sector
agencies must participate in a
collaborative manner, along with
industrial sectors, such as energy and
transportation, and last but not least,
each of us.
Toward a Sustainable Future for Road
Traffic
The automotive industry realizes that
people are harmed, even killed, by cars,
which are by design meant to help peo-
ple get around, experience the joy of
driving, and share enjoyable times with
friends and family. Despite a trend of
declining fatalities in developed nations
owing to advances in impact absorption
technologies, overall injury and fatality
rates continue to increase worldwide.
Governments everywhere are taking
steps to reduce traffic fatalities. Going
forward, the automotive industry must
undertake initiatives, not only to develop
technologies to further reduce casualties,
including cases of cars hitting pedestrians,
or when cars collide with other cars, but
also to avoid accidents altogether.
Findings suggest that some 90% of all
accidents are caused by human error,
such as drivers’ failure to identify or make
correct decisions about road hazards.
We need to combine a wide range of
technologies to create cars capable of
avoiding accidents—in other words,
cars that reduce or eliminate collisions.
While the automotive industry can do
1970 2000 2030
Cleaner Emissions
Reducing Atmospheric
CO2 Levels
Eliminating
Dependency on
Fossil Fuels
Issues
Confronting
the Automotive
Industry
Clean,
High-
Efficiency
Gasoline/
Diesel
Engines
Hybrid
Technologies
Biomass
Fuels
Hydrogen
Energy
Multifaceted Solutions
The Present
Issues Confronting the Automotive Industry and the Industry’s Response