Diesel cars may be worse than petrol for carbon emissions, report claims by Arthur Nelson in an article published in The Guardian titled Diesel cars may be worse than petrol for carbon emissions, report claims. The article demonstrates the economic principle of institutions because it shows that governments are trying to get car companies to make more efficient cars so car companies are trying to make diesel versions of cars; however, diesel is the same as gasoline or worse.
First, diesel haven’t gotten a good reputation lately. After the VW scandal, European countries has enforced stricter rules. In fact, diesel is accounted for nearly 50% of the carbon emissions, according to research in the article by The Guardian. But for many years, diesel were cheaper than gasoline in the days before WWII, mainly due to the fact that diesel was easier to make, at the time. But as times went on, more gasoline cars were made and ways to make gasoline were easier, therefore prices of gasoline went down and diesel became more expensive.
First, diesel haven’t gotten a good reputation lately. After the VW scandal, European countries has enforced stricter rules. In fact, diesel is accounted for nearly 50% of the carbon emissions, according to research in the article by The Guardian. But for many years, diesel were cheaper than gasoline in the days before WWII, mainly due to the fact that diesel was easier to make, at the time. But as times went on, more gasoline cars were made and ways to make gasoline were easier, therefore prices of gasoline went down and diesel became more expensive.
Second, as mentioned before, VW had cars made with diesel had a problem with their engines, where tons of black smoke can be coming out of vehicles. In fact, The Guardian says “Tailpipe emissions of sooty ‘black carbon’ could be as much as 25-50% higher than the EU estimates for cars made before 2005”. This was higher from the 40-80 of CO2 made per kilometer in the 1990’s. This is lead to putting filters on cars and yet, up to 75% of it doesn’t work. The problem with diesel is that is makes black smoke that can be more devastating than CO2 from gasoline.
Third, as technology gets better, we move towards it. Japanese car companies has come to a solution of hybrid cars. Hybrid cars uses fuel but also electricity which will presumably help the environment, or least not release as much emission. This technology was developed by the Japanese nearly 20 years prior [assuming from the time this article was published]. Hybrid can also help save money due to taxes on diesel. However, diesel cars has come a long way. All modern diesel cars have filter and presumably filter over 99%, so no black emission are exposed. Diesel also hold more energy content per liter than gasoline. So using diesel can save 20-25% less volume. In the end, as technology gets better, the emission is helped to lowered. It can’t be denied that diesel may be worse than gasoline after the VW and many other scandals took place over the years. Filters are a temporary solution but our global environmental issue won’t be fixed by putting on some filters.
In my next blog post I will research: How do we as people affect the car market?
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