China's demand for cars in on the increase, and with it the need to combat pollution.

The country will have about 50 million vehicles on the road by the end of the year and some predictions expect the nation to outstrip the US by 2015 to become the biggest market in the world.

While this is good news for automakers suffering from increasingly fragile economic situations, it spells danger for the environment.

According to reports from the Dallas Morning News, cars are the main culprit behind China's pollution.

Cars have been fitted with catalytic converters, which often contain platinum, in a bid to slow emissions but no pollution technology meets air-quality standards applied to the EU in 2000.

Standards in Beijing have also been toughened with cars being taken off the road to help the pollution problems during the Olympics.

But China is still looking for a number of environmentally friendly technologies to make a breakthrough.

Electric car and fuel-economy technologies are the best way for the nation to control its pollution problems, according to Sims Gallagher, author of China Shifts Gears.



Source:

Pollution, fuel costs among worries as more Chinese own cars, 05/08/08
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