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Fueling Environmental Progress
…And Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Technologies and actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions are increasingly attractive to national, state and local policymakers, and greater use of clean diesel in the U.S. could play a helpful role.
With diesel’s superior engine efficiency and the fuel’s higher energy content, diesel vehicles can do the same amount of work while burning less fuel than their gasoline counterparts, typically resulting in a 10% to 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
…Thanks to the Continuous Improvement of Clean Diesel
A new generation of clean diesel is fueling even greater environmental progress. As of 2007, exhaust from a clean diesel truck or bus is so clean that it would take 60 new trucks to equal the soot emissions of one truck sold in 1988. By 2010, truck and bus emissions levels will be near zero – a total reduction of 98% from 1988. The EPA predicts that these new trucks, once they fully replace the existing fleet, will reduce emissions of smog-forming gases by 2.6 million tons each year and cut soot emissions by 110,000 tons annually.
Similar levels of emissions improvement will phase in for diesel construction and agricultural equipment within the next decade; for locomotive and marine vessels shortly thereafter.
Upgrading the Existing Fleet
Many of the same clean diesel technologies developed for new engines can be applied to older vehicles and equipment. A number
of cities and states struggling to meet strict federal clean air standards have found that clean diesel retrofits are a cost effective way to achieve real and immediate air quality progress. The nationwide availability of ultra-low sulfur fuel will help expand these retrofit opportunities. However, funding through EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Program and the Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program is critical to expedite these air quality benefits.
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