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25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

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Re: 25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

#151

Post by danans »

organsnyder wrote: post #108
danans wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having grown up in Michigan (Detroit area), I'd say that Michigan has generally good air quality (excepting acute conditions like asthma) - as long as you live upwind of most other people and factories. That usually means more north and west. And it usually means more expensive real estate. IINM, this air-quality vs. socioeconomic pattern repeats itself across much of the industrial midwest and rust belt. Maybe that'…

Michigan actually has rather poor-quality air: http://www.stateoftheair.org/2015/states/michigan/ Much of this is due to us being down-wind of Chicago: http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/air-polluti...

Sure, it isn't the Canadian Rockies, but it is nothing like a bad day in San Bernadino or Bakersfield. Check out the summer AQI maps for different parts of the country at http://www.airnow.gov/ (site is down right now).

I remember visiting LA from MI when I was a kid in the 80s and "tasting" smog in the air for the first time. Admittedly LA has gotten a bit better since then.

Re: 25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

#152

Post by serf »

bluedino wrote: post #65
maxerickson wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find carbureted vehicles the most bothersome (the exhaust stinks of fuel at city speeds), so I guess enforcing emissions standards wouldn't solve the problem (because of grandfathering/exceptions).

There are very few carb'd cars on the road these days in the USA. They were mostly phased out in the 80's and 1990 was the last year of passenger cars that had carbs (and there were only 4 or 5 if I recall) The problem is you can drive a vehicle that's burning coolant or oil and just spewing a cloud behind it and nothing is really stopping you. I'm not sure if you can actually get a ticket for it or not.

> There are very few carb'd cars on the road these days in the USA.

Yeah, there are less, but on a summer weekend in Southern California you can expect fumes from a number of car-culture enthusiasts and their cars.

My favorite : Carbureted rotaries. The smell of unbalanced air-fuel ratio plus the smell of motor oil being burned in combustion. It's like the two-stroke of the streets. Even better when it has lost a coolant seal and you get that nice sticky white-blue coolant component to the noxious cloud left behind.

Re: 25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

#153

Post by eosrei »

maxerickson wrote: post #98
ams6110 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, every time I'm behind or passed by a "classic" older car with carburetors, even one that has been restored and looks like new, I'm surprised by how clearly I can smell the exhaust. By contrast modern cars emit almost no detectable smell. Hard to belive that pre-1980s all cars had exhaust odor like that, I certainly don't remember it from my childhood.

I guess the average carbureted vehicle on the road today is being run by someone with the mindset that the engine should run great and develop lots of power. Back in the day more people would have set them up leaner.

The ideal air fuel ratio for gasoline engines is 14.64:1. It hasn't changed. Running an engine too rich wastes fuel and reduces power, too lean causes detonation and can destroy it. Electronic fuel injection more precisely meters the fuel which keeps combustion closer to ideal. Carbureted vehicles are generally tuned as close as possible to ideal but it's always better to go slightly rich than slightly lean.

Re: 25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

#154

Post by blacksmith_tb »

koolkat wrote: post #28

What i allways ask myself is for example if someone has an old car which polutes more than a new one, what would polute more to buy a new one or to continue to use the old one. Because producing the new car releases a lot of polutants as well. I have never investigated this.

The percentage of emissions associated with the manufacture of a vehicle is at least equal to driving it for its normal lifetime [1].

1: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/201...

Re: 25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

#155

Post by colanderman »

mizzao wrote: post #66
headShrinker wrote: post #39

It should be "Gallons per mile" not "Miles per Gallon" I read this article a few years ago, and following article illustrates the point very well. http://www.mpgillusion.com/p/what-is-mpg-illusion.html

Combining MPG numbers is what the harmonic mean is for :)

Thank you, I've been looking for a name for that function for years.

Re: 25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

#156

Post by astrodust »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #117
astrodust wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The salt solution to the pollution problem is somewhat convenient in the end. Cars do rust to pieces far quicker in Ontario than elsewhere.

I'm fairly sure that salt does not differentiate between polluting and non-polluting vehicles.

The number of vehicles on the road that are older than 20 years is shockingly low, especially American brands which rust considerably faster than others. Even cars from 2000 are rare.

In places where there's no extended winter weather I've noticed the cars are often older, with 40+ year old junkers from the 1980s looking, by local standards, no more than ten years old.

Re: 25% of Cars Cause 90% of Automobile Air Pollution

#157

Post by Gravityloss »

SCAQTony wrote: post #15

And 16-container ships create as much pollution as all the cars in the world. Perhaps these ships are softer targets to correct than tens of millions of cars? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-1...

Myths again. Sulphur is a relatively local pollutant. Ship sulphur emissions have probably killed a lot of people every year in Europe. Some say thousands. Well, that was until 2015, when the emissions regulations came into force!

Hurray for the European Union! Also Norway is participating.

http://www.imo.org/MediaCentre/PressBriefings/Pages/44-ECA-s...

http://www.airclim.org/acidnews/2011/AN2-11/ship-pollution-c...

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