cars, pollution, recycling

[curlyfilm]

i read a while ago, that 90% of a cars pollution, is from being manufactured and destroyed, 5% from spares used and only 5% from exhaust emmissions,

how true is this

[jake-the-peg]

The thing about environmental statistics is that it depends on how you measure it.

For example do you count the pollution of the power station used in the generation of the electricity to make it?

What about the pollution of the mining operation that extracts the coal that runs the powerstation that makes the electricity that makes the car?

What pollution are we talking about here anyway? Are you counting Carbon Dioxide emissions? I suspect not a modern car produces relatively little traditional pollutants due to catalysts and lead coming out of petrol.

It's a bit like the statistics quoted on Electric cars - according to some calculations I did the other day, if your electric car uses electricity from a coal fired power station it'll have worse carbon emissions than a Jaguar X-type.

Statistics don't lie - Statisticians though are right devils for it!

[curlyfilm]

funny things statistics, i remember doing some thing about them at school, about smoking, so too make smoking seem more popular, we asked a 100 people outside a newsagents, if they smoked, so we asked the ones who had bought fags and those actually smoking,, this made it seem more popular, it was an exercise too see how statistics can me made to show, what you want them too show

[ugly_bob]

Statistics can be used to prove anything.

68% of all people know this

[kepla]

As all the other answers have shwon, the exact figure might be a little difficult to determine with any accuracy as it all depends on what 'pollution' you are talking about. What is for certain is that if you keep an older car well maintained and repaired with parts from a breakers yard wherever possible you will certainly cut down on the pollution associated with manufacturing and recycling. You also happen to save rather a lot of money too. Whats the downside ?