AbstractHuman activities such as industrial development, burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and even agriculture practices are changing the composition of Earth's atmosphere. There is a growing concern that greenhouse gases released by these activities, such as carbon dioxide, may cause global warming which, in turn, would have dramatic social, economic and political impacts.The paper examines the global warming contribution of automobiles in Canada and compares various alternative transportation fuels in terms of their emissions of greenhouse gases and global warming potential.Energy conservation, improved fuel economy, and the use of certain alternative transportation fuels can significantly reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from automobiles. Although automobiles in Canada make a rather small contribution to overall emissions of greenhouse gases in the global context, reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases seems to be a step in the right direction. Many individual measures, each having a modest impact on greenhouse gas emissions, can have a dramatic impact on the rate of climatic change when combined.
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