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It’s not just the water in the gulf being polluted by oil. Everyday, our air is being poisoned as well:

“The largest U.S. oil refinery violated federal air pollution laws thousands of times during the last five years, releasing 10 million pounds of illegal pollution, including cancer-causing toxins, without facing proper fines or being forced to fix equipment, environmental groups claim.”

“Exxon Mobil Corp., which owns the refinery, is the latest target of Sierra Club and Environment Texas, which recently forced Shell into a $5.8 million settlement over its Clean Air Act violations and has filed a lawsuit against Chevron Phillips.”

“The environmental groups have not yet sued Exxon but have notified the Irving-based company, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of plans do so — a requirement under the Clean Air Act.”

“The Associated Press obtained copies of the groups’ two 60-day notices, which outline violations Exxon measured and reported itself. Among other complaints, the notices accuse Exxon of violating emissions limits on sulfur dioxide, one of the components of acid rain; hydrogen sulfide, a toxic, flammable gas characterized by a rotten egg smell; cancer-causing agents such as benzene and butadiene; carbon monoxide; and the smog-causing agent nitrogen oxide.”

While Exxon should face sanctions for these violations, the only way to stop this pollution is to end our dependence on carbon based fuel.

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• APNewsBreak: Groups Say Exxon Violates US Air Laws (abcnews.go.com)
• Chron.com: Groups say Exxon’s Baytown plant violates U.S. air laws (chron.com)
• Green groups issue 2nd lawsuit warning to Exxon (reuters.com)
• Groups allege illegal emissions at Exxon Mobil’s Baytown plant (chron.com)
• ExxonMobil to Pay MA $2.9M for Air Pollution Violations (environmentalleader.com)
• Biggest U.S. refinery facing emissions suit (mysanantonio.com)

In Europe diesel cars represent about 53% of the fleet and in Australia 6.5% and increasing. One could easily assume this is in part due to owners wishing to adopt “greener” motoring.  But diesels are not as green as they appear.  Only two diesel cars made it in the Australian Green Vehicle Guide top 100 cars, BMW E87 1 Series 120d and The Volkswagon Golf. The reason given for the lack of high rating diesels, their air pollution rating lets them down.

While diesel vehicles perform comparatively well on fuel consumption and produce lower levels of greenhouse emissions (CO2 being the main consideration), their contribution to air pollution (NOx and particulates) is generally higher than that of comparative petrol or LPG vehicles. Of most concern with their effect on air pollution are particulate matter and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions which can cause a range of adverse health effects. These emissions are generally higher in diesel vehicles compared to petrol or gas vehicles. For the sake of clarity, the term “greenhouse”  basically refers to the health of the planet whilst “air pollution” relates to more towards direct human health.

So emissions is a bit of a mixed bag for the diesel, whilst they do have the edge in terms of greenhouse benefits that is lost in higher air pollution.

So just maybe the real attraction to diesel cars is related to the hip pocket more than clean emmissions! Diesel engine fuel consumption is about 28% less than a petrol one all else being similar, but the fuel is about 5% more expensive at the pump. This means you can save about 20% on your fuel cost by owning a diesel.

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• Air pollution killing 24000 every year (telegraph.co.uk)
• Trees are Air Pollution Sentinels (treehugger.com)
• Increased Cancer Risk in These Polluted Cities (fitsugar.com)
• The Meaning of Green (forcedgreen.com)
• VW Trying to Market Diesel to Americans with “Coffee Filter Test” (treehugger.com)
• Diesel Just As Cheap As Petrol – But Beware (news.sky.com)
• VW clean diesels have best sales month since launch in June (autobloggreen.com)
• REPORT: Subaru to launch diesel cars in Japan in 2011 (autobloggreen.com)
• Clean Diesel Comes of Age (scientificamerican.com)
• Why European Diesel Cars Are Not Available in the U.S. (scientificamerican.com)

With the growing awareness of the environmental effects of greenhouse gases, a visit to the Green Vehicle Guide to rate your current car (based on greenhouse and air pollution emissions) against the newer more efficient models might prove an eye opener. When looking at trading in the old car for a cleaner, greener model, an ever increasing number of people are looking at innovation in alternative fuel sources. One such innovation is Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD).

via News – Earth Hour Australia.

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