Greentech Lead America: Clean diesel technology will continue to deliver major reductions in black carbon (soot) emissions in both the U.S. and worldwide, says Allen Schaeffer, the executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum .
According to the recently published study in the The Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, black carbon emissions are the second most important contributor to global warming, behind carbon dioxide. The study evaluated climate forcing of black carbon during the industrial era (i.e. 1750 to 2000).
According to Schaeffer, the innovation in diesel technology in the U.S over the last decade has helped virtually eliminate particulate (soot) emissions from new diesel engines across the board. For example, emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses have been reduced by 99 percent for nitrogen oxides (NOx) – an ozone precursor – and 98 percent for particulate emissions, which include black carbon.
Today, clean diesel technology with near zero emissions is standard equipment in nearly all off‐road diesel vehicles and equipment such as construction equipment, agricultural vehicles, stationary generators, locomotives and marine vehicles.
“Thanks to the switch to ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel coupled with advances in diesel engine design and emissions control technology, fine particulate emissions have been virtually eliminated from new diesel vehicles and equipment in the U.S. Today diesel engines are responsible for less than six percent of all particulate emissions in the U.S.,” Schaeffer said.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 Report on Black Carbon to Congress, the U.S. currently accounts for about eight percent of the global black carbon emissions, with 52 percent of that coming from mobile sources, and 93 percent of the mobile sources attributed to diesel engines. On top of the 32 percent reduction from 1990-2005, EPA projects this percentage will decline by 86 percent by 2030 ‘largely due to controls on new mobile diesel engines’.
“Beyond meeting low particulate and NOx emissions standards, manufacturers of medium and heavy duty trucks and engines for the U.S. are now on course to meet the first-ever greenhouse gas reductions and fuel economy standards ever enacted. These new standards that begin in model year 2014 will reduce CO2 emissions by 10 to 23 percent depending on type of truck,” Schaeffer said.
“Beyond the new technology advancements in reducing particulate emission, the opportunities for modernizing and upgrading existing diesel engines and equipment will also be important in reducing black carbon,” Schaeffer said.
Diesel Technology Forum works with national environmental and health organizations to increase funding for the highly-successful voluntary and incentive-based Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, which is helping to modernize and upgrade older diesel engines in school and transit buses, commercial trucks, construction and agricultural equipment, and marine vessels.