The rise of diesel in Europe: the impact on health and pollution

[knocker]

In a bid to reduce CO2 emissions in the 90s, Europe backed a major switch from petrol to diesel cars but the result was a rise in deadly air pollution

 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/22/the-rise-diesel-in-europe-impact-on-health-pollution

 

Here's how Volkswagen fooled the emissions tests: http://nyti.ms/1LLAfbv 

 

 

Air pollution in London caused early deaths of nearly 9,500 people in a single year, study finds

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nearly-9500-people-die-early-in-a-single-year-in-london-as-a-result-of-air-pollution-study-finds-10390729.html

Edited September 23, 2015 by knocker

[Jax]

Maybe but then again we used to burn coal and wood enmasse until the smogs killed many, so that was regulated to clean the air up, motorised carriges replaced horses, it cleaned up the streets but then polluted the air, we used lead in pipes, paint, petrol and childrens figures, then we found out that was bad and lets not forget how 'great' asbestos was until the 80's

 

All in the recent time frame, think the original excitement of diesel like nuclear being the wonder fuel of the future was thought to be great until the actual problems came to light which only tend to when they get used by many in real world situations, you can test away in the lab but the real world has a habit of only finding the unthought, unseen problems someone in a white coat had not.

[Mokidugway]

I have a euro 6 transit van in which I'm lead to believe is very low emissions I'm wondering if that's true now with the vw debacle ,my car is petrol but it's a bit of a planet eater ....:0

[knocker]

This must be the understatement of the year.

 

"needs a fresh start" says company as CEO Martin Winterkorn quits over emissions scandal http://bbc.in/1JpGtvO

[The PIT]

How many other companies cheat I wonder...

[iand61]

The reason Diesel cars took off in the UK was the high cost of petrol and extremely poor efficiency from petrol engines at the time.

Now engines are much more economical there isn't the same incentive to switch to diesel, especially given the higher initial purchase cost and more frequent servicing.

That said though this country will always have a large usage of diesel due to our heavy reliance on road transport for our supply of everyday goods.

However, even taking the emissions scandal into account, modern day truck engines are far less polluting than those of only a few years ago.