Environmental Implications

Below is a list of different materials used in both private and public transport. The effects of using such materials are given.

Forests have been greatly affected by large scale transport developments. Timber was used for railway sleepers and as a fuel source for some steam locomotives. Such uses resulted in the clearing of large areas of forest. We are now feeling the legacy of this with global warming and local climate change. The removal of these forests has also had an impact on native fauna by reducing their habitat.

Steel has been the main transport material since 1856. It has found use in both plain, carbon and alloyed forms in all types of transport. The thirst for steel has seen the establishment of large steelworks, such as those at Port Kembla (NSW), which often affect the local atmosphere with the large amount of pollutants produced in working and refining the steel. Steel production requires large amounts of iron to be produced, which means iron ore must be mined. These mining operations are usually open-cut mines which involve large open pits with machinery digging down to extract the ore. As well as iron-ore, coal and limestone, are needed for the fulling of the blast furnaces to produce the iron. Coal also has to be mined and refined to coke.

Cast iron has had a similar impact to steel but is used to a lesser extent nowadays. Essentially similar metallurgically to the iron from the blast furnace, it still requires vast amounts of iron-ore and coal and coke.

Aluminium has increased in use greatly in the last half of the 20" Century. Like iron, it is refined from an ore, bauxite, which is mined in an open cut manner, also affecling the local landscape and environment. Aluminum is refined from the ore using electricity, which in Australia, primarily comes from coal-fired power stations. The use of coal greatly contributes to greenhouse gases and as a result has a detrimental effect on our atmosphere. Aluminium refining also produces fluorine gas, a major polluter in the past, which is now controlled from reaching the atmosphere.

Polymer usage in transport systems has exploded since WWII, because polymers offer lightweight transport machinery which improves fuel efficiency. To protect the environment, the extensive use of polymers must be backed up by the recycling of old equipment, as polymers greatly contribute to landfill.