CLEAN DIESEL
A New Generation
Allen Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum, points out that if we ask the average person on the street what comes to mind when you say the word ‘diesel,’ the majority will respond ‘truck.’ He’s right and it’s not going to change anytime soon.
What is going to change is our perception of diesel fuel and its shrinking environmental footprint. We have entered the age of ‘clean diesel’ technology.
Wrap your head around this one: there are more fine particles emitted from charbroiling a one-third pound hamburger than from driving a new clean diesel tractor trailer 140 miles! This surprising statistic is great news for the environment if somewhat less flattering to our favorite fast food.
What is it and what makes it clean?
With a fuel that has a 10-percent higher energy density and 20- to 30-percent efficiency advantage over a gasoline engine, diesel offers an unmatched combination of efficiency, power, reliability and durability. It’s easy to see why, then, diesel engines are the overwhelming choice for the commercial trucking industry; more than 95 percent of all heavy-duty trucks are diesel powered, as are a majority of medium-duty trucks.
Starting in 2000, a complete transformation of diesel for both on- and off-road applications got underway. Helping the US achieve its clean-air goals is the underlying reason for the move to clean diesel fuel and engines. The challenge set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board was to virtually eliminate emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from diesel engines by 2010.
Today’s ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, advanced engines and effective emissions control combine to achieve near zero emissions that is smoke free. Clean diesel has proven energy efficiency, and ability to use a wide range of renewable fuels that position diesel as a key technology for growing economies to achieve cleaner air, lower greenhouse gas emissions and a sustainable environment around the world.
· Eliminating 97 percent of the sulfur from diesel fuel enabled the use of new and advanced emissions controls — particulate filters and selective catalytic reduction, or SCR systems — not before seen on diesel engines.
· Nitrogen oxide, or NOx, emissions from commercial diesel trucks (light-, medium- and heavy-duty) declined by about 60 percent from 2000 to 2015, according to the California Air Resources Board.
· Today’s diesel truck engines are significantly cleaner, reducing emissions by as much as 98 percent from pre-1990 models. To put the progress in perspective, it would take 60 new diesel trucks to equal the same emissions from one pre-1988 truck — a 60–1 ratio!
Under the new EPA program, trucks and buses built from 2014 through 2018 will reduce greenhouse gas pollution by nearly 270 million metric tons. Certain combination tractors (big-rigs or semi-trucks) will be required to achieve up to approximately 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by model year 2018 — saving up to four gallons of fuel for every 200 miles traveled.
New clean diesel technology is a success story where it matters most — in the marketplace. A key reason for declining emissions in the nation’s commercial trucking fleet is that more truckers are investing in new clean diesel engines. Without truckers embracing this technology, there can be no fuel savings or clean-air benefits. Today, more than 40 percent of all medium- and heavy-duty diesel commercial trucks in operation in the United States are equipped with model year 2007 and newer technology clean diesel engines. Four states — Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma and Texas — have more than 50 percent newer-generation diesel trucks on the road. Getting newer generation trucks on the road is key to achieving clean air and other benefits.
For more than a decade, taxpayers have spent millions on environmentally friendly equipment to help improve air quality around the most densely concentrated areas of cargo distribution — the nation’s busiest ports. Due in no small part to the growing new near-zero emissions clean diesel fleet, studies show the effort is working. In the busy ports of LA and Long Beach, pollutant levels have plummeted; hospital visits for respiratory-related complaints have declined.
Not surprisingly, officials are working on an update to their aging antipollution strategy, which they credit with helping to cut harmful diesel particulate matter linked to respiratory ailments by 85 percent.
The draft of the update, released in November, proposed a reduction in greenhouse gases to levels 80 percent below 1990 rates by 2050. Officials also want to slash emissions from ships and cargo moving
equipment such as cranes and forklifts. But the industry is weary of more new rules threatening to empty out its pocketbooks — such as a proposal that could place a fee on older trucks that call at the ports.
Indeed, the ongoing conversion to cleaner fuels won’t be cheap. There is no denying, however, that diesel fuel is here to stay and that the new clean diesel will continue to play a central role in the future of environmentally friendly transport.
Alkane Truck Company thanks Allen Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum, DShepardson@detroitnews.com, Rachel Uranga of the Long Beach Press Telegram and the Associated Press for their research and reports re-printed in part herein.
Alkane Truck Company is currently raising capital on the crowdfunding platform StartEngine. Find out more here: https://www.startengine.com/startup/alkane
