Re: How to get the U.S. into diesels: Takea test drive
After spending a lot of time in a Mercedes C350 I came to respect diesels, but never to love it. It still stinks, sounds uninspiring and with the variable quality of diesel, can result in huge emissions of particulate matter- it's not exactly cool to look in your rear view mirror and see a black smoke screen laid down by your luxury car like its a world war 1 destroyer! And with the complaints coming out of Europe about diesel's health impacts, I wonder how soon it will be before they are banned? In fact, instead of wasting money on diesels, I think Cadillac should spend money on an advertising campaigns bragging that it has an all petrol fleet that doesn't cause cancer, is better for the environment and is more refined than diesel!
"The WHO classified diesel exhaust carcinogenic to humans in June 2012 and outdoor air pollution and particulate matter as carcinogenic to humans in October 2013. A state of the art report by the WHO earlier last year said “Many studies have documented associations between day-to-day variations in NO2 and variations in mortality, hospital admissions, and respiratory symptoms. Also, more studies have now been published showing associations between long-term exposure to NO2 and mortality and morbidity. Both short- and long-term studies have found these adverse associations at concentrations that were at or below the current EU limit values, which for NO2 are equivalent to the WHO Air Quality Guidelines”. Last September, another leading group of scientists said there is evidence for a long-term effect of NO2 on natural mortality as high as that of PM2.5 which has long been considered the most dangerous air pollutant.
Air pollution is also an equality issue. Policy Exchange found, in its report titled Something in the Air: The forgotten crisis of Britain’s poor air quality that in the worst 10% of London for NO2, 5-10 year old children are 47% more likely than the London average to be eligible for free school meals and residents are 26% more likely than the London average to be on income support.
Diesel vehicles and gas heating and cooking, together increasingly with new local sources of combustion, are the main sources of NO2 in London. Policy Exchange has estimated that diesel vehicles are responsible for 91% of dangerous airborne particles (PM2.5) and 95% of NO2 exhaust emissions from road transport in London. The Mayor estimates that 82% of NO2 emissions in London are generated within the city."
- See more at:
http://cleanair.london/hot-topics/e...-worst-on-air-pollution/#sthash.lmlBhS8v.dpuf