Clean Diesel: A New Era of Green Cars

[Dover]

Mother Earth News (Feb/Mar 2010)

The green transportation horizon is even brighter thanks to new clean diesel vehicles. Compared with a similar-sized gasoline engine, a diesel engine delivers about 30 percent better fuel economy, which also means roughly 30 percent less carbon dioxide emissions.


Whatever notions you have about diesel cars, forget them. Long gone are the days of smelly, black plumes of smoke, noisy engines, slow acceleration, and sometimes-finicky operation. Diesel technology has evolved significantly in recent years, making diesel cars a strong green transportation option.

Modern diesel powertrains are quiet, clean, smooth, reliable, powerful, durable and economical. A diesel vehicle will usually cost more than a comparable gasoline vehicle, but the diesel engine’s more robust design means that, with proper maintenance, it should last considerably longer. Plus, some clean diesel cars qualify for a federal tax credit. For more information, see 2010 Clean Diesel Cars, Trucks and SUVs ( http://www.motherearthnews.com/uploadedFiles/articles/issues/2010-02-01/2010cleandieselcars.pdf ), and visit www.fueleconomy.gov.

For generations, diesel power has been the best choice for work-intensive applications, with no other engine delivering as much stump-pulling power. What’s evolved is how the engine compresses and ignites the fuel to propel the vehicle — a change that has capitalized on diesel’s inherent advantages while virtually eliminating the traits that previously made diesel dirty.

Diesel enthusiasts now contend that a diesel car delivers fuel economy on par with that of a gasoline-electric hybrid, and also offers a better driving experience. (See Clean Diesel: Greener Than the Prius? to find out how clean diesel vehicles measure up with gasoline and hybrid vehicles in mpg, price, greenhouse gas emissions, annual fuel cost, and more.)..cont'd


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Transportation/Clean-Diesel-Fuel-Economy.aspx

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GreenCar.Com - Audi A3 TDI is 2010 Green Car of the Year. Clean Diesel Reigns!

The quest for high fuel efficiency and lower CO2 greenhouse gas emissions is bringing an increasingly diverse array of ‘green’ cars to our highways. We’re seeing environmental performance becoming more mainstream in vehicles of all types, from entry level to luxury cars. Plus, there’s greater emphasis on advanced clean diesel, which typically offers abundant power at the ready along with greater mpg. Nowhere is this more evident than with the 2010 Audi A3 TDI, which has just been named Green Car Journal’s 2010 Green Car of the Year®.

This is the second year in a row that a clean diesel has risen to the top in Green Car Journal’s annual award program, a remarkable showing considering the competition. This year’s stellar field of nominees also includes the Honda Insight hybrid, Mercury Milan Hybrid, and Toyota Prius, along with the clean diesel VW Golf TDI, a high fuel efficiency hatchback that runs the same 2.0-liter TDI engine that powers last year’s Green Car of the Year® winner, the VW Jetta TDI...cont'd

http://www.greencar.com/articles/audi-a3-tdi-2010-green-car-year-clean-diesel-reigns.php




Green Car Reports: The Audi A3 TDI (hatchback or 'sportback')

We like the idea of the 2009 Audi A3, a small, sporty five-door hatchback (Audi refers to it as a Sportback). It seems rather like the grownup big brother of the 2009 Volkswagen GTI, which which it shares some underpinnings.

In the States, Audi has offered the A3 since 2006 with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four or a 3.2-liter direct-injection V6. But this year the company plans to introduce the A3 TDI, the first A3 diesel and only its second US-market diesel, after the 2010 Audi Q7 TDI.

Last week, we got a chance to drive an approximation of what this car will be like. Ours was a European-spec version, so it didn't have US emissions controls or safety equipment. We suggest treating these comments as rough first impressions.

Like all diesels, the A3 TDI has gobs of torque at relatively low engine speeds. It's geared so it moves right out, and the splendid S-Tronic double-clutch automated 6-speed manual transmission offers paddle shifting or quick, smooth automatic shifts...cont'd


http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1021078_first-drive-audi-a3-tdi-clean-diesel-hatchback





HybridCars - We drove the Audi A3 like an angel and got 43.7 miles to the gallon. When we drove it like a speed demon, the mileage was a still-respectable 31.2 mpg...cont'd

http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/audi-a3-tdi.html

[Ian David]

1. Oil companies dump waste from other products into diesel.

That way, when you drive a car or a truck around, you're also dumping the oil company's toxic waste for them at the same time.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Do you have any links showing this?

[Ian David]

4. I knew you'd say that, and I've been looking, but those key words come up so often...

... in completely different context, that I'm having trouble finding it.

I do know that Thom Hartmann has talked about it many times.

I'll keep googling.

Update: Try here-
06/21/06 Air America - Thom Hartmann (14:06)
http://www.alcoholcanbeagas.com/node/488

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

5. I've just never seen/heard this! not calling you out or anything,

I'd be quite surprised by this, if true.
I don't doubt it could be happening... I'd just love to read the scoop.

[Ian David]

6. Oh, I know. No offense taken. n/t

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. Mini Cooper D, a not-so-new car, got like 60 imp gallons to the mile.

The problem is up north during cold winters, deisel engines don't start up quite so easily.
That being said, I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE an 80's Toyota Hilux or new Mini Cooper D

[Andy823]

7. I have two diesels.

One is a 1984 Chevy diesel 1/2 ton pickup. I have a oil pump heater on it, and a block heater. If I don't plug it in then I don't get it started during the winter. I use treatments in the tank to keep the diesel from gelling during the winter, but the newer fuels aren't so bad for gelling unless it gets' really cold!

My other diesel is a 2005 3/4 ton pickup. I don't have to plug it in during the winter, but I do have a block heater in it just for really cold days so the heater warms up faster in the cab. Last winter I had temps down in the single digits and I had no problem at all starting the truck "without" using the heater because the cord had a short in it and I didn't get it fixed till later on. I think the newer cars are not as hard to start anymore either, but I do think they all come with heaters these days. I use both trucks to plow snow, and I used to use a gas pickup. The gas pickup was lucky to get 5 MPH when I was plowing snow, and 12 without the plow. My older diesel was getting about 8 pushing snow, and the newer truck gets about 11-12 plowing snow. They both get between 18 and 20 without the plows on them on the highway. Both are much better than using a gas truck for plowing or towing. Even though diesel costs more at the pump, I save money in the long run when I plow, and the diesel has much more power for what I use them for than a gas truck. I love my diesel trucks!

[eppur_se_muova]

10. That sounds like a leaky tank.

Maybe you meant miles to the gallon? :)

[NNadir]

8. In theory - maybe not in practice - the cleanest possible engine is the diesel engine.

I offer no apologetics for the car CULTure, which I believe should be phased out forthwith, but the miracle fuel DME can with minor adjustments to existing infrastructure, run diesel engines cleaner than another fuel.

DME is under active development in Japan and China, as well as Sweden.

The compound lacks carbon carbon bonds and therefore burns as cleanly as dangerous natural gas.

The Nobel Laureate chemist George Olah holds a number of patents (and has published oodles of publications) on the subject of using DME if fuel cells.

Like hydrogen, DME is an energy storage medium, and not a source of energy, but unlike hydrogen it is safe and readily stored and transportable, owing to its high critical temperature, which is well above the atmospheric boiling point of water.

DME is also useful as a refrigerant and as a fuel in dangerous natural gas fueled powerplants, for which its use is already approved in nearly every Japanese dangerous natural gas fueled powerplant.

It is very much like propane in its physical properties, but burns much cleaner than propane does.

Also it's average atmospheric life time (in contrast to methane and propane which have atmospheric lifetimes on the order of years and are potent greenhouse gases) is about 5 days.

[Merchant Marine]

9. The big push in shipping has been switching over to low-sulfur diesel

instead of burning heavy fuel oil. HFO is some nasty shit.


I'm of the opinion that we'd be much better off if we phased out all gasoline cars now and switched over entirely to diesels and turbodiesels.