Re: choking kids and big emitters

[David Roden <roden@ACORN.NET>]

> I also can't understand why poluution limits shouldn't be set on the
> basis of total pollution from a vehicle rather than done on a percentage
> basis as it is now.

Hmmm.  I know that the manufacturers spec their CO and so on as
percentages for the purpose of adjustments, but I believe that the federal
EPA standards are in grams per mile.  The catch is that (again, I think)
only CO, HC and NOx are regulated, since HC and NOx are the ingredients
which react under sunlight to create smog, and CO is nasty by itself.  The
engine's fuel mixture, ignition timing, EGR and various other factors that
control combustion are carefully managed by computer to hold the regulated
emissions within limits defined by the manufacturer's engineers.  Then the
catalytic converter helps finish the combustion process on the HC,
oxidizes the CO to CO2, and does something I don't understand to the NOx.

Here is where the global warming agreement comes into play.  Since CO2 is
an EPA-unregulated gas (so far), any vehicle can emit any amount.  And
this is the one that the 2.5 ton dinosaurs belch in huge quantities.

There are also unregulated products of the catalytic reaction, such as
sulfuric acid vapor, hydrogen sulfide, and (I read years ago) trace
amounts of palladium.  Nobody to my knowledge has ever investigated
possible harmful effects of these unregulated emissions.

Hydrocarbon fuel-cell powered EVs will still emit CO2.  As much as LFVs?
I don't know.  (Hydrogen fuel cells emit only water vapor!) Power plants
burning fossil fuels to power EVs still emit CO2.  As much as LFVs?
Depending on where you are in the country, and how your power is
generated, the answer may be yes.  Rather than trying to remember the
report which so suggested, I will try to find it in the next week or so if
anyone is interested.

All the more reason to (1) maximize EV efficiency and (2) move toward
renewables in our power mix.  The folks who live in areas with lots of
hydropower, and those who charge their EVs with PVs or wind turbines, are
probably in the most defensible position.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points.

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   David Roden         THE VIRTUAL PD            roden@acorn.net
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Re: choking kids and big emitters                                            R