Automobile emissions are among the largest causes of pollution in the United States. Although the pollution from an individual car is small, this pollution is multiplied again and again by the millions of cars found in the U.S. Automobile emissions has been a major problem for a long time, but was not addressed until the 1970’s, when the smog from cars was at its worst in American cities.

There are two types of pollution that come from automobiles. The first, and most well known, is the pollution that comes from the engine of a car. I found out from HowStuffWorks.com that because the combustion process in a car engine is not perfect, some harmful byproducts are produced when an engine burns fuel.

I also learned about harmful emissions from a PDF the EPA website. Another type of harmful emission is fuel evaporation. Vapors from gasoline contribute to the hydrocarbons found in our atmosphere. While carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides are bad, hydrocarbons are basically straight poison. Fuel evaporation is a serious problem, and it is not one that is talked about very often.

There is also information available from the U.S. Department of Energy