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Automotive News & Views What Would It Take for YOU to buy a diesel car?
1503 messages, Last post on Nov 14, 2009 at 1:11 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: gregg_vw (Jan 27, 2009 2:02 pm) Pollution Tax Not Effective Kelly's team now plans to determine whether the new restrictions improve the air - and people's health. "If you can demonstrate a health benefit, then you would imagine the public would be more enthusiastic for a scheme where they would have to dip into their pockets every day." London's poor air quality tackled with launch of Low Emission Zone The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: "Thousands of Londoners suffer ill-health from pollution released by traffic fumes and seven out of ten Londoners are concerned about the impact of air pollution. The new study looked at the effects on 60 people with mild and moderate asthma of walking along the western end of busy Oxford Street in London, where only diesel-powered taxis and buses are permitted. The researchers, from Imperial College London, the New Jersey School of Public Health, and other international institutions, found that both during and after a two hour walk along Oxford Street, the test volunteers experienced increased asthmatic symptoms, reduced lung capacity, and inflammation in the lungs. It took a few hours for these to return to their normal levels. The researchers confirmed their results by comparing how the same people were affected by a two hour walk in the traffic-free, western part of London's Hyde Park. Here, the volunteers experienced some of the same problems but to a far lesser degree. This is the first study to investigate in a real-life setting, outside of the laboratory, if traffic fumes make symptoms worse for people with asthma. Two thirds of people with asthma believe this to be the case, according to Asthma UK. The researchers believe that diesel exhausts cause problems for people with asthma because of the particulates - minute particles of dust, dirt, soot and smoke - which they release into the air. Particulates come in different sizes but those of less than 2.5 microns, and the tiniest "ultra fine" ones, can interfere with the respiratory system, because they are so tiny that they can be inhaled deeply into the lungs. Ultra fine particles can also be absorbed in the blood, which may have damaging effects. Until clean diesel engines circa-2007 and later are the norm, diesel exhaust will still be a major problem in tightly-packed European cities. You can love diesel cars all you want, but don't try to ignore the health issues caused by diesel exhaust in the process of your love affair. |
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Replying to: larsb (Jan 28, 2009 7:14 am) Actually that goes back hundreds if not at least a thousand years (read BEFORE automobiles.)
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Replying to: ruking1 (Jan 28, 2009 8:33 am) |
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Replying to: larsb (Jan 28, 2009 7:14 am)
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Replying to: gregg_vw (Jan 28, 2009 9:02 am) 'Sall I'm Sprayin............. |
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 -- jikes my post got some heat both good and bad.. Don't get me wrong me and hubby love cars (especially US cars), so I'm not exactly a tree hugger with a cycle  .. I just don't like diesel that much because most of what I seen of it hasn't impressed me. What I'm especially unimpressed with is the complexity. That we can have pretty clean gasoline powered cars is pretty evident and it's not especially complex systems. It's basically decent EFI (with 02 sensor) , catalysator and EGR and you have a pretty clean car. This setup isn't that complex and will in most cases live for quite a few years before it need some repairs. Compare that with how hard it is to clean a diesel engine, I simply don't' think (kind of know) they will last that long before needing repairs and guess what people will be driving them for a year before a smog test will catch them... It's kind of simple to figure out they will dirty down more since they will require repairs more often hence will run more often with bad emissions than a gasoline powered car... -- ."I don't know about all THAT. London is still among the worst polluted air cities in Europe: "... Actually that goes back hundreds if not at least a thousand years (read BEFORE automobiles.) --- Well they though it was a good thing to burn coal in fireplace so every single household had one or two fireplaces where they burnt coal -- creating those nice and red sunset and fog (smog) that London was famous for ... Well got to run, so see you folks another day ... Cheers Dyna PS: Like the "You can love diesel cars all you want, but don't try to ignore the health issues caused by diesel exhaust in the process of your love affair." comment.
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Replying to: Dynas (Jan 28, 2009 11:25 am)
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Replying to: Dynas (Jan 28, 2009 11:25 am) With less than 1% of the US market being diesel cars there is little to no defacto choice. |
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Replying to: larsb (Jan 28, 2009 11:34 am) So far both me and hubby are very happy with our LPG (SGi) powered 1999 Cadillac Seville --- lets just hope it's not to much electronic stuff that will go south. Probably will do LPG on some of our Classics too (the very thirsty once) as long as it can be somewhat hidden (don't like intrude on original look). The cycle/train/sneakers is fine but it's more for daily commute to work. To be honest I don't really believe in public transport unless it's scheduled things like going to and from work at the same time day in and day out. I simply can't stand waiting 30 min for e.g. a bus. Beside don't think it's that green to have a double decker bus with a massive diesel engine transporting a single passenger.. Cheers Dyna
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Replying to: Dynas (Jan 28, 2009 12:04 pm) I agree with you on part of your point. Most of the US relies on buses for public transport (such as it is) and I don't use them. I hate buses, except for chartered ones. I don't like waiting either, and I don't like not immediately knowing the fare structure, the routes the zones, teh wait times, all that crap. I DO however like using subways, metros, trolleys, and skytrains in cities around the world. These are usually fast, run frequently, are inexpensive, and easy to figure out even if I am not familiar with it. I save money, time and parking over trying to drive in these areas. If Iran the world, light rail would be available everywhere. Unfortunately, most of the US is only set up for individual cars, and it is likely to stay that way. Constructing rational transport that people will really use has now become prohibitively expensive. It could only be done with things like tacking a $2 tax on each gallon of gas/diesel, and who is going to go for that, save the few voices crying in the wilderness? I think it will eventually come, even to the US, but things have to get much, much worse here first in terms of congestion, bad roads, godawful commutes and so on before the groans about light rail proposals die down. In the meantime, I can be as selfish as the next guy. If I have to drive because I live here and the whole thing is set up around the car, then I want to use less fuel. I've gotten my best fuel cost per mile from a TDI. Now, I realize if diesels ever did take off in this country as they have elsewhere, people would probably drive even more, do longer commutes and exacerbate some of the very problems we already have. The earth's oil would last longer as well, and that would delay the development of suitable alternatives. Every situation has its drawbacks. |
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