STATUS OF DIESEL EMISSIONS AND CONTROL – CAN WE DROP ALL EMISSIONS, INCLUDING CO2?

Abstract:

Diesel vehicles emit approximately 20% less greenhouse gas, well-to-wheel, than gasoline vehicles. However, they traditionally have emitted much more carbon soot and NOx. Clean diesel technologies are in commercial production in Europe, the United States, and Japan that have soot and NOx emissions similar to or even lower than gasoline vehicles. As such, diesel vehicles can offer a no-compromise solution to reducing energy consumption while maintaining or improving air quality. In addition, there are significant opportunities to utilize biofuels and retrofit existing diesel engines with emission control technologies, thus significantly decreasing the soot and NOx emissions of the current fleet. As new knowledge on soot is showing it to be a key, short term, high-potency, climate change agent, the fitting of diesel particulate filters on current vehicles can be a significant contributor to combating the global warming impact of the current fleet.