Additional Resources Save and Share Fast Facts Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel - with 97% less sulfur than traditional diesel - is now available nationwide. Exhaust from new clean diesel trucks is so clean it passes the "white handkerchief test." If you hold a handkerchief next to the tailpipe and rev the engine, it stays white - picking up no smell or black soot. America could save up to 1.4 million barrels of oil per day - an amount equivalent to the oil we currently import from Saudi Arabia - if one-third of U.S. cars, pickup trucks and SUVs were diesel-powered. Innovative retrofit technologies can reduce emissions from exisiting diesel engines by 25% to 90%. Rudolf Diesel first patented the diesel engine in 1893. The economic workhorse of the past century is now transformed into an environmental workhorse for the next century.

 

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The regulatory framework necessary to ensure clean diesel's arrival is already in place. However, government can still help in three key areas:

Remain technology and fuel neutral - Rather than picking winners and losers from the vast array of promising alternative energy sources, Forum members support setting fair standards and then letting the marketplace choose the preferred solution.

Provide incentive funding for retrofit - Clean diesel retrofits are one of the most cost-effective strategies for achieving real and immediate air quality improvements. Support for federal and state diesel retrofit funding programs is needed to make the environmental benefits more economically appealing for equipment and vehicles owners.

Help speed adoption of new clean diesel - New vehicles and equipment are significantly cleaner, but also more expensive. Congress should consider financial incentives that encourage customers to purchase revolutionary new clean air technologies, including new clean diesel trucks. Federal tax incentives already exist for qualifying diesel cars, pickups and SUVs.