Well we now know what to do with all that old "french fries" oil. Many countries (especially the largest energy consumers) must be swimming in it!

ABC

 

Not true, NOx also travels. In any event, pollutants and greenhouse gases created in any part of the world should be considered to be part of a global problem.

http://www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/nox/hlth.html

 

You know a solution.

Cut down on the driving.

BTW you can find what you want online. Who's right? Government or independents?

http://www.whatgreencar.com/environment.php

Is N2O (Nitrous Oxide - a greehnouse gas) chemically part of NOx (Nitrogen Oxides - local pollutants) or part of NxOx?

ABC

 

Maintenance is more expensive for diesels, but that could not be the reason for diesel unpopularity within the US....

bauska530i

 

Dunno where you got that from.

The service interval on any diesel car I've ever owned has always exceeded the equivalent gasoline model. My wife's car has a 2-year or 18,000 mile interval.

No spark plugs (but a particulate filter every 4 years or so).

However..... in UK a Diesel car is more expensive to BUY.

ABC

 

I suspect we're going to have regional variations here.

Service intervals are indeed longer on diesels than on petrols, but perhaps there may be variations in the cost of the service and/or parts as the different markets open up and become more exposed to diesels. Plus, it remains to be seen what longer term effects the poorer quality diesel sold in some markets have on the service needs and life of the newer performance diesels - South East Asia comes to mind.

In the Netherlands the diesels cost almost the same (to within 3%) as their petrol counterparts, BUT, road tax on diesels is approx. double what it is for petrol cars. The main saving comes from the fewer trips to the pump and the lower cost per litre of diesel (it's about EUR 0.35 per litre cheaper).

MacSid

 

Well, I'm actually spending some weeks in the Miami area, now, attending my business, and for the first time I really got the feeling that something is changing in USa about diesel cars.

Last week there was an article on a local newspaper about a long and detailed study prepared by students and professors of the Miami University about car alternative fuels and technologies, in the USA, to gasoline. To make things short, the study concluded that any of the actual alternative, including full electric cars, hybrid cars, alchool/gasoline mixtures or pure ethanol has a lot of drawbacks, directly or indirectly; the most efficient solution, at the state of the art of our technology, are diesel engines using diesel fuel or a mixture of mineral oil fuel and vegetal oil (providing that no new land surface will be dedicated to the cultivation of vegetables only to be transformed in fuel). And similarly I read several articles in magazines and newspapers preaching the widespread introduction of european quality, diesel cars in the USA asap. For example, in the July issue of Automobile magazine, new diesel models for USA are announced by Audi, VW, BMW, Nissan, Hyundai.

So, I guess that in a matter of a couple of years I'll see a lot diesel cars cruising around I95 or I595!

 

Particulates are a problem as well, and arguably are more difficult to contend with.

Define polluter? We have the highest emissions standards in the world. However, we spew CO2 with abandon. Diesels are one way to help solve this problem.

Diesels can help solve this. The 2008 diesels (really 2009) should help things, but we're 10 years behind the power curve. Unfortunately we've having this discussion too late.

 

BMW USA execs are on record as stating the US diesels next year will be 50 state legal.

 

12/08 as 2009 model year cars. It was in BMW Magazine today.