Transportation Emission Control
The emissions caused by motor vehicles and non-road equipment have made a significnat impact on the air quality throughout the world since their introductions. While current vehicle emmision standards have abruptly reduced the amount of pollution coming from virtually every tailpipe in being produced today, more research needs to be conducted in the feilds of fuels, vehicle control systems and catalytic converters. While we have improved emission standards in the past 25 years, the effects of vehicle pollution are still such a problem due to the fact that more people are driving more miles. One way to reduce emissions that seems feasible right now is the use of alcohols as fuels the most common of these being E85 which is 85% ethanol.
Information:
Fuels - http://www.epa.gov/otaq/rfgvehpf.htm
Catalytic converters - http://www.meca.org/page.ww?name=Autos%2C+SUVs+%26+Trucks§ion=Emission+Control+Technology
General info - http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/peg/carstrucks.html
Comments
I like the idea of alternative fuels, but using food sources for fuel for vehicles seems like it could cause future problems. It seems like the production of ethanol produces a lot of CO2. Does anyone know if it the production of CO2 is higher or lower in gasoline? Finally, a lot of people have old lawn mowers, weed eaters, chain saws, snowblowers, and other equipment. A lot of these machines last long periods of time do they have regulations on pollutants?
Posted by: Marcus Thompson | February 26, 2008 9:47 PM
Will combustion of E85 generate any new pollutants that you wouldn't see with straight gasoline?
Will current catalytic converters be able to finish burning any residues from E85?
As to Marcus's question on the lawnmowers, chainsaws and snowblowers. They pollute more than cars do since they have little or no pollution control (some have particulate filters). Also they use less efficient engines which also leads to more pollutants.
Posted by: Steve Sternberg | March 4, 2008 3:51 PM
With the future of the Light Rail (in MN) this will hopefully cut emissions from personal automobiles as the plan is to have 40 miles of addition light rail running from Big Lake to Minneapolis via hwy 10. I used to commute on hwy 10 for work along with MANY others, the light rail will be a nice alternative for those commuters as they can save on gas and time.
Posted by: Elizabeth Kokesh | March 6, 2008 11:48 AM