From the “settled science” department of the UNIVERSITY OF YORK and possibly inspired by Volkswagen…
The research, led by the International Council on Clean Transportation and Environmental Health Analytics, LLC., in collaboration with scientists at the University of York’s Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI); University of Colorado; and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, examined 11 major vehicle markets representing more than 80% of new diesel vehicle sales in 2015.’
Of these markets, they found vehicles emitted 13.2 million tons of nitrogen oxide under real-world driving conditions, which is 4.6 million tons more than the 8.6 million tons expected from vehicles’ performance under official laboratory tests.
Chris Malley, from the SEI, University of York, said: “This study shows that excess diesel nitrogen oxide emissions effect crop yields and a variety of human health issues. We estimate that implementing Next Generation standards could reduce crop production loss by 1-2% for Chinese wheat, Chinese maize, and Brazilian soy, and result in an additional four million tonnes of crop production globally.”
Nitrogen oxide is a key contributor to outdoor air pollution. Long-term exposure to these pollutants is linked to a range of adverse health outcomes, including disability and reduced life expectancy due to stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.
Josh Miller, researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), said: “Heavy-duty vehicles, such as commercial trucks and buses, were by far the largest contributor worldwide, accounting for 76% of the total excess gas emissions.
“Five of the 11 markets that we looked at, Brazil, China, the EU, India, and the US, produced 90% of that.
“For light-duty vehicles, such as passenger cars, trucks, and vans, the European Union produced nearly 70% of the excess diesel nitrogen oxide emissions.”
The study estimates that excess diesel vehicle NOx emissions in 2015 were also linked to approximately 38,000 premature deaths worldwide – mostly in the European Union, China, and India.
Susan Anenberg, co-Founder of Environmental Health Analytics, LLC, said: “The consequences of excess diesel NOx emissions for public health are striking. In Europe, the ozone mortality burden each year would be 10% lower if diesel vehicle nitrogen oxide emissions were in line with certification limits.”
At a global level, the study estimates that the impact of all real-world diesel nitrogen oxide emissions will grow to 183,600 early deaths in 2040, unless something is done to reduce it. In some countries, implementing the most stringent standards – already in place elsewhere – could substantially improve the situation, according to the researchers.
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The study was funded by the Hewlett Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, European Climate Foundation, Energy Foundation China, and the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied System Team.
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sorry I meant abstract not extract
“I read about some….”
Of course that does not make it true. If fact it is ridiculous.
“Pu is scattered all over parts of Japan right now from the reactor explosions at Fukushima.”
There were no reactor explosions and there have never been on LWRs.
I was qualified by the navy to operate 6 reactors and certified 4 times on GE BWR reactors.
I am an expert and not the least bit confused. Toxicity is something you look up in a table. And yes it does depend on the method of exposure.
Concern about Pu is the result of fear mongering based on made up stuff. We do not expose people to Pu. On the other hand, millions intentionally expose themselves to nicotine. One of the adverse affects is that it is addictive.
“You are correct MarkW, except for iodine and caesium.”
Mark is correct, no excepts. Release of fission products occurred when the containment were intentionally vented after local populations were evacuated.
As it turns out, the evacuations were not necessary but that is hindsight.
No was hurt, even workers at the plant, by radiation.
It is unlikely that you could intentionally hurt someone outside the fence with radiation from a LWR.
Use a baseball bat if you want to hurt someone. How about irrational fear of baseball bats?
@engarpie
As I stated, I am an expert at making electricity with LWRs and not hurting anyone with radiation. We (me and a lot of other highly trained experts) do this by understanding science and engineering systems to protect people.
No was hurt based on based on measured exposure.
“So, please tell us why there ….”
I am not an expert on why they do things in Japan. However, since I was the radiation safety officer on my last ship and am familiar with US regulations, I can explain the process.
For example, access to the engine room on a nuke ship was ‘restricted’ to those who were monitored for radiation exposure.
The point here is that restrictions and monitoring do not imply exposure or harmful levels.
There are a number of factual errors in many posts. Here are a few corrections:
The U.S. Navy injected AID consisting of water, alcohol, and fish oil into recip aircraft engines well into the 1980’s. Cylinder knock occurs when octane is too low for a given cylinder compression pressure. Essentially, pockets of fuel/air ignight before they are ignited by the expanding flame-front.
The U. S., Japan, and the EU are the main adheatents to Diesel Tier-four Final requirements limiting particulates and NOx.
Ultra-low sulphur fuel and oil is required to inhibit fouling of particulate filters.
NOx is reduced in a two-stage process: First, an exhaust gas return valve takes a regulated portion of exhaust and cools it prior to mixing it with clean intake air.
The DPF, or similar wall flow device removes most particulates. The gas is next routed thrust a mixing chamber, where Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) converts the NOx to ammonia and N2.
The Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) converts the reductant to CO2 and water.
Tier-five regulations will be even more stringent and require DEF quality monitoring.
It is wise to be skeptical of these studies, as the science is poor and the authors are likely motivated beyond altruism.
sorry, if I did not make myself clear for any non chemists out there
– x is oxygen – be it 2 atoms as in NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) or one atom of oxygen as in both nitrous oxide(N2O) and in nitric oxide (NO)
– the only one of these 3 NOx’s that is a greenhouse gas is nitrous oxide(N2O) – which behaves as a double wammy as we chemists say – it also behaves as an ozone depleting chemical in the stratosphere.
x is the number of oxygen atoms – that should be clearer – NOx is used as a collective term to note all 3 which are all produced from combusting coal or crude oil – be it petrol , diesel, jet fuel etc etc.
not methane (CH4)
and yes a well tuned carbureter (spell) in an old car should convert most NOx’s back to N2 (harmless) just as a catalytic converter is designed to do – the catalytic converter also converts the pollutant CO (carbon monoxide) back to yes you guessed it harmless CO2 – but this is the theory – usually transport vehicles that use some form of distilled crude oil (petroleum) and coal for electricity (modern coal burning power stations do a good job of preventing the release of NOx’s and SO2) or coal for heating (e.g. in fire places – very polluting) do not behave as a perfect system – modern engines still produce these nasties to some extent due to the extreme heat from their engines breaking the bonds of atmospheric N2 so as it is able to react with oxygen in the air to from any of or all 3 of NO’xs.
“modern engines still produce these nasties to some extent due to the extreme heat from their engines breaking the bonds of atmospheric N2 so as it is able to react with oxygen in the air to from any of or all 3 of NO’xs.”
Exactly right. Exhaust gas is recirculated to the intake manifold to hold cylinder temps below 2370 deg. F to reduce NOx. Formation.
Tests are likely run with clean Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF). As the DPF fouls with ash, regeneration through elevated exhaust temps is initiated. Strategies include; late fuel injection, exhaust back pressure valves, intake restrictions, and dedicated fuel injection in the exhaust stream.
The elevated temp requirement for regen has to increase NOx production. Thus, neither a test conducted with a virgin DPF, nor one conducted during regen provides an accurate NOx emission tally.
Lets hear from anyone that actually drives a diesel commercial vehicle for their employment, (listens to crickets cheeping).
Ok. I drive a day cab Diesel commercial vehicle as part of my employment. I am part of the small percentage of Commercial Drivers License , Class A, holders that have bachelor degrees and worked in IT. My bachelor degree is in Electronics Engineering Technology and was earned in 1977.
All of our Trucks use the DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) system. The opinion of the majority of truck drivers I have spoken to is that DEF, while reducing pollution drastically, is a nuisance and not worth the trouble.
From the management and safety side of truck driving, their comment is that DEF produces cleaner air at its output than it receives in its input. In essence commercial Diesel trucks that use DEF are large mobile air filters.
ALL new trucks that I have seen are equipped with DEF. DEF got a bad name when it first became mandatory and it was scarce and at high prices. Now DEF is available at all of the major truck stops and it normally sells for less the $3.00 per gallon. On my current truck DEF usage is about 2.5 gallons per 50 gallons of Diesel fuel burned.
The effects of high NO2 from using Diesel engines is eliminated when those Diesel engines have a working DEF system.
I imagine that better ways to reduce NO2 will be found as the DEF system increases maintenance costs. At the present time though, it is a workable solution to eliminating NO2 emissions from Diesel engines.
Diesel Exhaust Fluid is 30% UREA and 70% water. DEF has to be very pure in order to not clog up the rest of the DEF system. The Particulate filter eventually becomes to full of carbon and has to be replaced at rather long intervals, those being greater than 250K miles of use.
If you see a Commercial Diesel Vehicle puffing white clouds out of its exhaust then it is using the DEF system. If you see it puffing black clouds out of its exhaust then it is not using DEF.
Those white clouds are water vapor, Nitrogen gas, and CO2.
Now about those Jet aircraft emissions………
There are more points so far not mentioned. Modern diesels with catalytic converters produce very little NOx when the CAT is at a normal working temperature, probably 30MPH. However traffic speed controls and general congestion in major European cities have made average speeds much less than this (London about 9MPH) and so levels are higher than they need to be. Diesels at motorway speeds are cleaner than petrol, but they don’t tell you that. Euro 6 diesel trucks and buses are also very clean, except that may older buses are not to this standard and are exempt from legislation in UK!
You need to also understand that the NO2 levels under discussion are very low, a few microgrammes per cubic metre, a few parts in 10 to the power 9. I cannot find any medical papers or studies which find any problems at these low levels. All the statistics which are banded about are devoid of the most important number, the statistical significance of the claimed result! Given that they must come from multivariate results ie. many possible causes which cannot be isolated) there should be a number of degrees of freedom given as well as a significance. To get any reasonable significance a huge sample size and very large effect are both required, and any tests which may have been done have neither! Its far too easy to lie with statistics chosen to suit a case.