Diesels: losing green cred?
Thanks to the good fuel economy (and consequent lower CO2 emissions) of modern diesel cars, there’s been a lot of optimism about the role of diesel vehicles in reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. However, a recent testimony provided by five scientists before the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform might put a serious dampener on diesel’s green aspirations.
The testimony centred around the impact of black carbon (i.e. soot particles) on climate change, arguing that carbon particulatesmight be the second biggest cause of climate change after CO2 and ahead of methane.
The carbon in soot warms the atmosphere by absorbing sunlight, converting it into infrared radiation, and emitting that heat radiation to the air around it. Even worse is soot on the surface of snow and ice which contributes to both the melting of those surfaces as well as the warming of the air.
Some good news though, is that because of the relatively short lifetime of soot in the atmosphere compared to greenhouse gases, control of soot may be the fastest method of slowing warming for a specific period.
GreenCars has been a little skeptical about the environmental credentials of diesel cars in the past - particularly with regards to particulate and NOx emissions. In fact, we’ve covered the issue of diesel particulates before in an article on dirty snow, so this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. However, this confirmation of previous studies really cements the notion that car buyers should consider efficient petrol cars over diesels with comparable fuel consumption.
Source: Green Car Congress
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