This is Scott's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following Scott's activity
Scott
Recent Activity
The London Underground is similar. There’s always a hazy mist over the platform. I’ve also blown black snot out of my nose onto a tissue. Amazing though how it’s taken, like the best part of 100 years to realise this.
I haven’t seen any headlines yet about how bad it is to be on a train platform when a diesel loco is ticking over. On the platforms of Birmingham’s New Street Station you could cut the fumes from a Virgin Cross Country diesel train with a chain saw. No one speaks about this though because those in local office are too busy obsessing about how streets can be altered to create congestion, supposedly because this makes people throw their car keys in the bin and take the [non existent] bus instead.
Study found highly elevated PM2.5 in pre-COVID-19 subway air in NE US; NYC the worst
A team led by NYU Grossman School of Medicine researchers measured real-time and gravimetric PM2.5 concentrations and particle composition from area samples collected in the subways of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; New York City, New York/New Jersey (NYC/NJ); and Washington,...
There’s a lot of irony in a train being transported by road. The Kelpies on the other hand are brilliant sculptures. Worth coming off the M9 to explore than just pass by.
Scottish Enterprise project converting train to hydrogen power
Scottish Enterprise, Transport Scotland and the Hydrogen Accelerator, based at the University of St Andrews, have appointed Arcola Energy and a consortium of industry leaders in hydrogen fuel cell integration, rail engineering and functional safety to deliver Scotland’s first hydrogen powered tr...
Over 10 years ago, the UK government said that all new build housing would be zero carbon. It never happened. New houses still have gas boilers and are poor to adapt to air or ground source heat pumps because they leak heat like sieves. So how can we be so confident that a ban on the sale of new ICEs will be in place if it could be similarly dropped quietly?
By then, if drop in synthetic petrol or diesel using captured airborne CO2 becomes a market reality, will a ban on really be necessary? I’m not convinced it will if emissions have improved.
UK accelerates end of sale of new gasoline and diesel cars to 2030, hybrids to 2035
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the government will accelerate the ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles, bringing it forward by ten years to 2030, as part of a “Green Industrial Revolution.” The sale of hybrid cars will be allowed until 2035. Johnson announced the...
How on earth did we cope back in the days when brake pads were made with asbestos?
Emissions Analytics finds pollution from tire wear can be 1,000x worse than exhaust emissions
Pollution from tire wear can be 1,000 times worse than a car’s exhaust emissions, Emissions Analytics has found. Emissions Analytics is an independent global testing and data specialist for the scientific measurement of real-world emissions and fuel efficiency for passenger and commercial vehic...
Yes it is, quite common now.
ORNL researchers use stop-light cameras to reduce fuel consumption of less-efficient vehicles via traffic management
Approximately 6 billion gallons of fuel are wasted in the US each year as vehicles wait at stop lights or sit in dense traffic with engines idling, according to US Department of Energy estimates. The least efficient of these vehicles are the large, heavy trucks used for hauling goods—they burn m...
... meanwhile in the UK some roundabouts are being replaced with traffic signals, or have become signalised themselves to become. Frustratingly this often happens when a road to expressway standard meets a motorway e.g J28 of the M1 where the A38 meets the motorway with a roundabout above the motorway which becomes overloaded, so it is signalised, then it becomes overloaded again. Instead of biting the bullet and designing free flow intersections, exit slip roads (off ramps) are widened to make larger queues fatter, but then it’s not long before the queuing back up onto the main carriageway of the motorway again.
In the UK more money is spent bodging and tinkering than fixing problems like this properly. And they are called improvements.
The occasional junction has been fixed. J19 of the M1, where the M6 begins had the A14 expressway terminate with a nasty dumbbell junction when it was built in 1990. Goole Earth shows how this has now been fixed. No more 4 mile queues to the roundabout now it’s been replaced with direct connector slip roads.
ORNL researchers use stop-light cameras to reduce fuel consumption of less-efficient vehicles via traffic management
Approximately 6 billion gallons of fuel are wasted in the US each year as vehicles wait at stop lights or sit in dense traffic with engines idling, according to US Department of Energy estimates. The least efficient of these vehicles are the large, heavy trucks used for hauling goods—they burn m...
..or recycle the CO2 to synthetic fuels to use in existing cars.
EPFL team develops on-board system to capture CO2 from trucks; reducing emissions by 90%
Researchers at EPFL have patented a new concept that could cut trucks’ CO2 emissions by almost 90%. The EPFL system captures CO2 directly in the trucks’ exhaust system and liquefies it in a box on the vehicle’s roof. The liquid CO2 would then be delivered to a service station and where it will ...
You can't run the existing ICE fleet on electricity, so developing greener drop-in fuels has to be a good thing. Scrapping vehicles prematurely through scappage scheme, to me is a waste.
We need effort to go down the Co2 capture and convert route. I don't see why this cannot sit alongside electric technology constrained by the availability of rare earth resources. Horse for coures and that kind of thing.
Primus Green Energy, partner commission FEED study on new GTL plant; gasoline the end product
Primus Green Energy Inc., along with a global petrochemical company as a joint venture partner, has commissioned a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study with IHI E&C International Corporation for a first of its kind natural gas-to-gasoline plant in Texas. The proposed joint venture pl...
OK, so what about the other 60%, or is that in the "too difficult" pile.
JRC: Traffic measures could effectively reduce NO2 concentrations by 40% in European cities
Concentrations of the harmful NO2 pollutant across 30 major European cities could be reduced by up to 40% with the correct traffic policy measures, according to EU Joint Research Center (JRC) scientists. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is the single largest env...
I use Shell V Power Diesel in my Euro6, as it has a blend of GTL synthetic diesel and supposedly more cleaning additives. It's more expensive, but in the belief that less soot will load the DPF. I haven't noticed any active regeneration side owning it over the last 6,000 miles. MPG has improved slightly over that time with a cleaner engine.
Study finds there is still room for optimization of particle emissions based on diesel fuel properties
Researchers in Europe have found that while diesel particulate filters (DPFs) have to a large extent masked the role of diesel fuel properties on particulate emissions, there is still room for optimization, especially in particle number (PN) emissions of vehicles with frequent regenerations. The...
We could put part of the blame on high fuel taxes which has encouraged people to switch to diesel to eek more likes out of a gallon, to offset the cost.
I would be no coincidence that many developed countries outside the EU happen to have better air quality levels because more people use petrol, as it's not taxed so highly.
Study: air pollution causes 800,000 extra deaths a year in Europe and 8.8 million worldwide
Air pollution could be causing double the number of excess deaths a year in Europe than has been estimated previously, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal. Using a new method of modeling the effects of various sources of outdoor air pollution on death rates, the research...
$20? I spent £80 filling my Audi A6 with diesel on Monday night, admittedly with V-power diesel, which works out at $7 per US gallon. I can get 550-600 miles on that amount though.
Study: gasoline is more important than healthcare for Americans
Americans collectively spent $388 billion on gasoline in 2018, averaging to 34 million fill-ups a day. According to a study by GasBuddy, a smartphone app connecting drivers with the Perfect Pit Stop, the necessity, perception, and price of gasoline adversely impacts Americans across all age gro...
If it's anything like the UK it will be the extortionate costs of car insurance that will put young people off driving and hence getting a licence. You're looking at at least £1,000 or more to be insured to drive at a young age, because of risk.
Choosing not to drive: A transient or a permanent phenomenon?
by Michael Sivak. In a 2011 article, Brandon Schoettle and I showed that the proportion of young Americans aged 16 to 39 years with a driver’s license decreased substantially from 1983 to 2008. (In contrast, the proportion of older persons with a driver’s license increased during the same per...
If you live in a country like the UK, where the cost of fuel is $7 per gallon, then driving a diesel becomes an attractive choice, and indeed this is a big reason why I have a diesel, because I rack up 24,000 miles year commuting. It would be so much less if I could afford to live close to work, but that would be futile, anyway as my wife commutes the same distance in the opposite direction and there are no jobs closer.
This relates to a huge issue about a massive disconnect between having homes close to where people work, which is the elephant in the room when it comes to the question as to why so many people commute. It's either that or be out of work and a home, so it's a no brainer, unless of course you have the nice luxury of being within spitting distance of mass transit, or a short walk to work. Lucky for some I guess. I did myself. I used the Metro, but I had to move from where I used to live to after losing my job.
Hence! No surprises that in countries where fuel is half the cost, gasoline is more popular and less polluting, locally at least. But in countries where fuel is highly taxed, you find ways of getting round it. Hence, diesel.
Yes, Electric could be option, but that will have to wait before I can afford one, as my budget for car buying sits at $7k. It would also have to be something that can get me from the UK to France on road trips - 700 miles on a tank of diesel in a day and with a boot big enough for camping gear or capable of bring 100 litres or so of wine home, or seat 4 adults with luggage for trips to places such as Bruges like we did last summer.
I try to do my bit though. I use V- Power Diesel nitro for its GTL blend of synthetic diesel - it's more poke and less smoke. And over 50 mpg is possible in my 2006 Audi A6 2.7TDi on long runs. Where I commute, air quality isn't an issue, so I don't have any shame at all of driving a Euro IV emission standard vehicle.
London study finds Low Emission Zone has contributed to modest NOx reduction, with little effect on lung health of children
The introduction of the low emission zone (LEZ) in London, UK, has only contributed to modest reductions in exposure to NOx from diesel vehicles, and these improvements appear to have little effect on the lung health of children, according to an open-access observational study published in the ...
Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of living close to work because of the huge difference in housing costs. So I commute 35 miles instead. Hence , I tactically travel in early to beat the traffic and go for a nice 7-mile walk along a canal and through parkland. It's a nice way to start a day and beats doubling my commuting time sitting in rush hour traffic. I feel fit too!
Study concludes cycling is the urban transport mode associated with the greatest health benefits
A new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the la Caixa Banking Foundation, has concluded that cycling is the mode of transport associated with the greatest health benefits: better self-perceived general health, better mental health and fewer ...
The less poor will drive cars that are older that will get less mileage that more recent models. The greater cost will eat into any ability to save money for a better mileage replacement.
In Europe highly taxed fuel means more people drive diesel engined vehicles, because you get much better mileage. I can get over 50 mpg (imperial) in my Audi A6 2.7 TDi Avant which makes $8 per imperial gallon easier to live with. Mind you I use V-Power diesel which is more like $9 per gallon. The petrol equivalent might manage 35mpg on a similar run.
Now you have the green lobby with a vendetta against diesel - the same lobby that wanted and still want higher fuel taxes which resulted with more people resorting to diesel power. A spectacular own goal in that context.
Yes we have electric vehicles now but for a person like me who likes road trips to France or to visit family and friends range still needs to improve and costs need to drop. I'm the sort of person who avoids finance and pays cash for my cars and saves money in the meantime for the next car when needed. Hence, bought my 2012 Audi for £5k four years ago and will get another good four years out of it. For that sort of money you'd be lucky to buy electric. Anyway, with PHEVs the quoted mileage is a scam unless your the sort that gets away with running on electric mode most of the time. Otherwise 100 mpg is a myth for long distances.
US EPA and DOT propose freezing light-duty fuel economy, GHG standards at 2020 level for MY 2021-2026 vehicles; 43.7 mpg for cars; 50-state solution
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released their long-expected notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to adjust the Congressionally-mandated Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and Light-Duty...
Be careful about increasing fuel taxes. It's no coincidence here in the UK that the massive surge in diesel ownership happened as fuel taxes increased under the fuel duty escalator to some 57p per litre. With air pollution now big issue, the idea that fuel taxes would benefit the environment has backfired badly. The highly taxed rate of fuel is THE reason I bought a diesel to keep a lid on fuel costs, as I have to commute 35 miles to work. My wife commutes 30 miles in the opposite direction, so moving is not an option. Neither are EVs, as we often need to cover greater distances. We drive to France for holidays, or parts of the UK for work, camping trips, or to see family.
Remember also, fuel taxes are regressive, hitting the poorest hardest. So don't expect to see more wealthy folk ditching their SUVs in a hurry. It will put low paid people into fuel poverty, especially if they have no alternatives.
The negative s outweigh the limited benefit in my view. To be cynical, it's a stealth tax and nothing more.
California Governor signs $52B fuel tax and vehicle fee bill for transportation infrastructure; $100 ZEV fee
California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed into law SB1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The bill will raise $52.4 billion over the next decade through an increase in fuel taxes and vehicle fees—including on zero emission vehicles (ZEVs)—to fix roads, freeways and bridges in...
Is it really a good thing to invest a lot of public subsidy on something that will have a indiscernible impact in the great scheme of things.
Is taking an older car off that could have a good few more years of service remaining a sustainable practice if the emergy and materials needed is going to more than offset any savings in lower fuel consumption.
Sorry for being cynical but is this to benefit air quality or the auto industry?
For my part I have a 16 year old car 1.8T Passat with 215,000 miles which suits my driving routines in a way that an EV cannot meet. In europe where fuel prices are acopalyptically high (in a US consumer's view), it's effecient enough for me to keep it going even though it runs on petrol (gasoline). I can get 45mpg on a good run to work even though it is rated to be 34mpg on the EU Combined Cycle, as I have looked after it and know how to drive effciently without driving like funeral director.
California providing incentives up to $12K to help low-income families afford the cleanest cars
In coordination with local air officials, the California Air Resources Board is initiating a retire-and-replace pilot program in the Greater Los Angeles area and San Joaquin Valley to help people of low income replace old, polluting cars with cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicles that also cut ...
Thomas
If I wanted a car for short journeys I would get one that is a lot older and has lost much of its depreciation already. I've always had older car that I have paid for in cash. I've had an 1997 Audi A6 2.5TDi cost £2,700 and lasted 7 years before I let it go to a good home for £200. I also have a 1999 Passat that I bought 11 years ago that cost £4,500 and could fetch a optimistic £750 if I sold it tomorrow. I still have it with 210,000 miles done and I expect to still have it when it reaches 250,000 miles. Even though fuel is £5.50 per gallon (or about a good $8 per US gallon) its a damned sight cheaper than running a LEAF and I get to go onlong roadtrips quite regularly which is a bonus, as I have friends and family in distant places.
Nissan LEAF is best-selling electric car in Europe for fourth year in a row; 26% market share
European 2014 EV marketshare of top 5 OEMs. Data: Nissan. Click to enlarge. The battery-electric Nissan LEAF has topped its own European sales record with a 33% increase in European sales in 2014 over the previous year, taking 26% of the burgeoning electric car market with 14,658 sales out ...
The driver demographic will be quite narrow, mainly people who commute a regular daily milage that is well within EV range but adds up to high weekly milages and saves a lot in cost on petro-fuels.
Very few people will buy an EV if they do limited milages as the little money saved in fuel will be completely wiped out by depreciation costs. Equally no-one will by an EV if driving patterns include longer even occasional road trips.
So naturally the mileage of Leaf drivers will be more.
That all aside, I think the biggest disincentive about the Leaf is the fact that it is ugly, but maybe that's more to do with the fact that Nissan have got into a bad habit of making ugly cars, likelwise with Renault who have been at it (uglification) for a lot longer. Look at the Juke as a good example or the Renault Vel Satis. The Tesla at least looks quite normal. I see them regularly in my neck of the woods.
European LEAF owners on average drive 50% more per year than European ICE average
Average miles driven by LEAF owners in European countries, compared to average ICE driver. Data: Nissan. Click to enlarge. Based on telemetry data from its CarWings system, Nissan revealed that European owners of the battery-electric LEAF drive more than 50% further per year (10,307 miles, 1...
People buying electric vehicles will do so for a reason: they do a lot of miles through a regular commute but comfortably within the range that an EV allows.
I cannot see people buying an EV if the few miles and hence little saved in fuel is overwhelmed by the cost of depreciation, and that applies equally in Europe than it does in the US.
That's why the mileage is higher. It attracts a certain driving demographic who typically drive a daily milage witin range that adds up to more than the average for the whole driving population.
In short damed lies and statistics.
Nissan LEAF is best-selling electric car in Europe for fourth year in a row; 26% market share
European 2014 EV marketshare of top 5 OEMs. Data: Nissan. Click to enlarge. The battery-electric Nissan LEAF has topped its own European sales record with a 33% increase in European sales in 2014 over the previous year, taking 26% of the burgeoning electric car market with 14,658 sales out ...
These are the unintended consequences of high fuel taxes.
CCFA counters Paris mayor’s proposed total diesel ban with suggestion to focus on legacy fleet
The Comité des Constructeurs Français d’Automobiles (CCFA) (the French automobile manufacturers association) characterized the recent declaration by Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, that she wished to eliminate diesel vehicles in the city by 2020 as lacking realism, and suggested that the best sol...
The most realistic figure to go by when considering the European Cycle is the "combined" figure, not the "extra urban figure" which is more aligned to the best you will ever get if you drove like Miss Daisy.
In my recently purchased car - a 2006 model with V6 2.7 litre Diesel engine, I can easily beat the 40.1 mpg combined claimed figure and even reach the claimed extra urban figure if I have a nice quiet flat empty road and take it nice and easy at a constant 55 mph.
It may have something to do with cars having smaller engines which are tuned to maximise power delivery. Unfortunately you will never get the stated mpg figure if you have to "drive it like you stole it" to get the power it promises especially on hilly roads.
ICCT: gap between official and real-world fuel economy figures in Europe reaches ~38%; call to implement WLTP ASAP
Divergence of real-world CO2 emissions from manufacturers’ type-approval CO2 emissions for various on-road data sources, including an average estimate for private and company cars as well as all data sources. Source: ICCT. Click to enlarge. The gap between official and real-world fuel-econo...
When the vehicle on front is belching out a bit of smoke then, yes you switch the recirc function. We know that already don't we.
Hence isn't this a bit of an elaborate way of saying that that bears really do defecate in the woods?
USC researchers find car ventilation setting critical to in-cabin exposure to particulate pollutants; new model for aiding exposure assessments
In-vehicle-to-outside (I/O) ratios for four pollutants under different ventilation settings. Credit: ACS, Hudda and Fruin (2013). Click to enlarge. Researchers at USC have found that using recirculation rather than outside air ventilation in a car can effectively reduce in-cabin exposure to...
HarveyD 87 Octane is not available in Europe. The lowest Octane is 89 (95 RON) Unleaded then there's premium which ranges between 97 and 99 RON depending on brand. Shell's V-Power Nitro is 99 RON I believe, as is Tesco's super unleaded - the latter being bad form mileage as ethanol has been used to provide the octane boost.
Volkswagen’s 3rd-gen Golf TDI BlueMotion rated at 73.5 mpg US; 15% better than predecessor
New Golf TDI BlueMotion. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen’s third-generation Golf TDI BlueMotion, introduced as a concept at the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris last September(earlier post), is rated with fuel consumption of 3.2 l/100 km (73.5 mpg US) on the NEDC—equivalent to 85 g/km CO2. Thi...
More...
Subscribe to Scott’s Recent Activity