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The big picture for diesel truck pollution versus gasoline emissions is bleak but improving, says a just-released study by UC Berkeley which was funded by the EPA and the California Air Resources Board.
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The article entitled "Elucidating secondary organic aerosol from diesel and gasoline vehicles through detailed characterization of organic carbon emissions" was authored by?Drew R. Gentner, and examines the release of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) which have been linked to health hazards and climate change. Based on gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis of two bores of the Caldecott tunnel in Oakland, California, one of which does not allow large trucks, the study used fuel sales scaling to correlate that diesel trucks produce seven times more SOAs than other vehicles, including passenger cars.
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The study, which was conducted in the summer of 2010, suggests that the State of California's 1993 move to reduce single-ring aromatics and polycyclic aromatics in diesel were thwarted by concerns about engine performance and the cost of fuel production, and that their data indicates that "the?vast majority of diesel fuels sold in California?are certified alternative formulations that contain nearly double?the aromatic content than initial regulations intended." However, UC Berkeley's Professor Allen Goldstein also told Popular Mechanics that large trucks and truck engines are rapidly being replaced by more efficient powerplants with "dramatically lower emissions," due to regulations by the California Air Resources Board.
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Manufacturers of?diesel?passenger vehicles, which comprise a sliver of the emissions volumes examined in the study, are quick to tout the advantages offered by clean diesel technology. "Clean diesel passenger vehicles have to fulfill the same emissions requirements as gasoline cars," says Oliver Schmidt of Volkswagen's Engineering and Environmental Office. "In the US, it all comes down to fleet averages, and clean diesels actually produce less particulates than gasoline due to their particulate filters."
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/study-reveals-diesel-pollution-levels?src=rss
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