Environmental Technologies and Eco-innovation in the Czech ...

3 | Environmentally Friendly
Motor Transport
Traffic is one of the main factors that affects the quality of the environment,
especially air. The largest offender in this field is road traffic. Its negative effects
are mainly seen in greenhouse gas emissions, the emissions of suspension particles
and the emissions of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic substances, which are the
precursors of ground-level ozone. The emissions of these substances are produced during
fuel combustion and re-suspension 1 . The programme for supporting environmentally
friendly technologies in the Czech Republic (see Chapter 1.2.3 Environmental
technologies in the Czech Republic) considers transportation a significant branch with
extensive research in these technologies, e.g. increasing the efficiency of engines,
research in hybrid engines, research in vehicles consuming fuels with high contents
of organic components, research in tyres with low friction coefficient, etc. In the
Czech Republic, the development and use of these innovative technologies has is varied.
Some have been already applied into mass production, whereas the remaining portion
(especially hybrid engines) at a stage of increasing development.
The implementation of environmentally friendly technologies in transportation
is helping to reduce CO emissions. These have been reduced by more than 30% since
1995. This is mainly the result of the more efficient combustion of fuels and catalytic
systems. The implementation of biofuels also contributes to reducing specific
emissions of CO 2 . However, it is necessary to keep in mind in this context that road
transport volumes and outputs have increased significantly since 1990 and future
growth is anticipated. Environmentally friendly technologies help to mitigate
(emission of greenhouse emissions, PM) or even completely stabilise and gradually
reduce (emissions of CO, NO x , HC) the increasing burdens.
Following is a well-organised outline of the development of significant eco-innovative
technologies in transportation implemented in the Czech Republic and the potential of
their use. If the potential of new technologies in transportation is not used, the stipulated
limits for pollutants and noise limit values will be more frequently exceeded, which will
threaten the health of the inhabitants, especially those in municipal agglomerations.
1 re-suspension – a process where particles formerly settled onto a surface are blown away by the air blowing above this surface
layer