Can this possibly be right?
Discussion
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/mustang-test
"The average car today gives off one-tenth as much pollution per kilometre as in 1970. The fact is that a car travelling full speed causes less pollution than a parked car did in 1970, because of leakages."
"The average car today gives off one-tenth as much pollution per kilometre as in 1970. The fact is that a car travelling full speed causes less pollution than a parked car did in 1970, because of leakages."
Its certainly feasable. Car manufacturers have done so much to reduce emmissions in the last 20 years, yet we still pay through the nose for the little they do emit. If industry had been forced to reduce emmissions in the same manner as car makers we wouldn't be talking about global warming.
autopium said:
Its certainly feasable. Car manufacturers have done so much to reduce emmissions in the last 20 years, yet we still pay through the nose for the little they do emit. If industry had been forced to reduce emmissions in the same manner as car makers we wouldn't be talking about global warming.
Sounds like rubbish to me. Average mpg may have doubled but certainly not by a factor of ten. Cats produce more CO2 not less so if industry had gone down this route man made global warming would be worse.Could well be true. Remember that petrol back then had a nice bit of lead in it too!
I seem to remember reading a few years ago that driving a 993TT from London to Blackpool would generate less pollution than spilling a few drops of petrol on the garage forecourt. Sounds a little far fetched, but assuming very clean combustion, efficient catalysts and however you choose to measure what is a pollutant and what isn't (this is the important part!) it could hold some water.
I also recall that the Saab 9000's engine/combustion/catalysts were so effective that in London, the gasses coming out of the exhaust pipe would be cleaner than the air going in (presumably when stationary in heavy traffic)...
There are many ways of difining pollution- cows being a huge generator of CO2 for example, but CO2 is required for the photosynthesis cycle in plant life.
I seem to remember reading a few years ago that driving a 993TT from London to Blackpool would generate less pollution than spilling a few drops of petrol on the garage forecourt. Sounds a little far fetched, but assuming very clean combustion, efficient catalysts and however you choose to measure what is a pollutant and what isn't (this is the important part!) it could hold some water.
I also recall that the Saab 9000's engine/combustion/catalysts were so effective that in London, the gasses coming out of the exhaust pipe would be cleaner than the air going in (presumably when stationary in heavy traffic)...
There are many ways of difining pollution- cows being a huge generator of CO2 for example, but CO2 is required for the photosynthesis cycle in plant life.
Whitean3 said:
There are many ways of difining pollution- cows being a huge generator of CO2 for example, but CO2 is required for the photosynthesis cycle in plant life.
+1. They probably mean unburnt hydrocarbons, CO, NOx when they say 'pollution'.I just took my last ever university exam - Automotive Propulsion. As I'm sure you can guess, most of it was on EGR, series/parallel hybrids, lean burn and 3-way catalysts. Bloody eco warriors...There was me hoping it was about massive turbos and how to make a car lighter :P
Edit: Don't cows generate mostly methane - which is around 4x worse than CO2 as a GHG?
Edited by alephnull on Friday 28th May 09:06
alephnull said:
Edit: Don't cows generate mostly methane - which is around 4x worse than CO2 as a GHG?
Maybe, but methane is an unstable gas and will break down quickly compared to CO2. The carbon component in it will also be derived ultimately from atmospheric C02 anyway, so it's actually carbon-neutral 
Plotloss said:
If you fly on a Jumbo to Australia your share of the emissions put out by that jet is more than 12,000 miles in a V8 Petrol Range Rover.
So when Tarquin and Jocanda daub your 4x4 in mud and leaflets and then head off to visit Marcus and Mary in Perth they're being somewhat ironic...
No, they aren't being ironic, they're being So when Tarquin and Jocanda daub your 4x4 in mud and leaflets and then head off to visit Marcus and Mary in Perth they're being somewhat ironic...
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