Many manufacturers are now building fewer diesel engine cars or planning to ditch diesels altogether. Porsche has announced recently that it will stop selling cars with diesel engines soon and Chrysler may not be far behind,
Recent years have seen air quality deteriorate throughout various parts of Europe, despite relatively strong air quality standards in the European Union. With that reality in mind, it was recently announced that the European Commission would begin a much stricter enforcement of the rules. Will it?
The rising air pollution levels in many of China’s largest cities are having a pronouncedly negative effect on human health there. Though, that much has been known for quite a while now. A new study, however, has unearthed something not unexpected but still worth taking note of — “robust evidence” that rising levels of short-term ozone exposure are ramping up mortality rates considerably.
Why were many of Audi’s diesel models not able to meet the stricter NOx emissions standards that went into effect in the US in 2007 without relying on fraud? Because meeting the new standards would mean reducing the size of the sound system, apparently.
Real-world nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel vehicles are up to 50% higher than the estimates that result from laboratory testing, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature.
Owing to the widespread use of air conditioners, emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2) increase substantially during the summer in the US (and surely elsewhere) — air conditioners use a lot of electricity. As global temperatures increase, that means many more people are turning on (and buying) air conditioners, which then increases the electricity production that is a leading cause of global warming.
New research from the University of Heidelberg (commissioned by the German television station ZDF) has seemingly confirmed earlier assertions by the German trade group Camion Pro that a significant fraction of lorries operating in Eastern Europe are utilizing so-called “AdBlue killers” to circumvent the use of the actual NOx-reducing fluid AdBlue while still qualifying for the various tax and toll reductions that vehicles using AdBlue qualify for.
London’s air pollution problems seem to growing rapidly in recent years (or perhaps we should say they are returning, depending on how you think of it). Hourly PM2.5 levels now sometimes exceeding those of Beijing, China. Nitrogen dioxide (NOx) levels have been surging well beyond EU legal limits (over a 5 day period in January, NOx levels exceeded the EU’s legal limit for a full year). London was recently put on a “Very High” air pollution alert for the first time.
A new study led by USC researchers has found that Latino children who live in places with high levels of air pollution are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes — as a result of high levels of air pollution apparently working to make insulin-creating cells less efficient.
In another example of the disparity between the reality of diesel cars and common sales claims, the independent research organization known as the International Council on Clean Transportation has revealed in a new paper that Euro 6 diesel passenger cars emit NOx at over double the rates that modern Euro VI buses and trucks do (on average).
