Transcript See presentation by Dr. Aonghus McNabola

Diesel Vehicle Emissions, Air Pollution & Climate
Change
Green Budget Europe Event
Dr. Aonghus McNabola
School of Engineering
Trinity College Dublin
15th Sept 2016
Diesel Emissions, Air Pollution & Climate Change
• What do we mean by ‘air pollution’ ?
•
GHGs vs human health or environmental
impacts
• Why is there a nexus between air pollution
policy and climate change policy ?
• Why are we concerned about diesel vehicles
in particular ?
Air Pollution
Environmental Pressures
•
Air pollution is a significant threat to public health worldwide.
•
Air pollution is ranked as the 8th most important risk factor in premature
death by the WHO.
•
Most problematic pollutants in Ireland are particulate matter (PM2.5 &
PM10) and NOx.
•
Dominant particulate matter sources in Ireland include: sea salt, petrol &
diesel vehicles, biomass burning, secondary nitrate & sulphate, industrial
sources, crustal sources.
•
Diesel exhaust has been declared a probable carcinogen to humans and has
well established links to premature cardiovascular-related deaths
•
94% of diesel particles are known to be in the more toxic PM2.5 size fraction
Air Pollution
Particulate Matter
•
Particulate matter is very small solid
or liquid particles suspended in the
air we breath
•
Damaging to heart health
•
Europe wide problem
•
Considered more toxic with
decreasing diameter of particles
•
Composed of a variety of
compounds depending on the
source
Air Pollution Policy & Climate Change Policy
CO2 vs the rest…
•
Integration of air pollution and climate change policy a global problem
•
Some climate change policy has positive impacts on air pollution and vice
versa.
•
Some climate change policy has negative impacts on air pollution and vice
versa.
•
Known examples:
•
Atmospheric Aerosols (particulate matter)
•
Air tightness in new buildings
•
Dieselisation of vehicle fleets
Incentivisation of Diesel Vehicles
Irish context
•
Changes to Irish road tax structure in 2008 was predicted to result in the
incentivisation of smaller engined new-vehicle purchases and a shift from
petrol to diesel
•
Policy designed to reduce CO2 emissions from the sector and has been
effective.
•
However the impact of the dieselisation of the fleet on human health is a
major concern, for two reasons:
•
1.
Diesel vehicles emit much more PM2.5 and NOx than Petrol
2.
We already had a problem with these two pollutants in parts of Ireland
The EPA national emissions inventory for 2013 showed that the private
diesel passenger car is now the single largest contributor to road transport
emissions of CO2 and PM.
Incentivisation of Diesel Vehicles
EPA Road Transport Emissions Inventory
Recession & New Tax Structure
Incentivisation of Diesel Vehicles
The Irish Vehicle Fleet
•
Distribution of vehicle types in Irish Vehicle fleet in 2014, dominated by
EURO 3 & 4 standard (>43%).
EURO Class
%
Conventional
0.10%
PC Euro 1
0.60%
PC Euro 2
15.20%
PC Euro 3
28.20%
PC Euro 4
37.70%
PC Euro 5
18.20%
PC Euro 6
0.00%
• Irish problem comprises
incentivisation of new diesel
vehicle purchases & lower
fuel tax (incentive in secondhand market)
Incentivisation of Diesel Vehicles
The Irish Vehicle Fleet – Petrol vs Diesel (2014)
Petrol
EURO Class
%
Diesel
EF for PM2.5
(g/km)
%
EF for PM2.5
(g/km)
Conventional
0.11%
0.0100
0.03%
0.1875
PC Euro 1
0.85%
0.0100
0.20%
0.0797
PC Euro 2
22.48%
0.0100
4.36%
0.0559
PC Euro 3
35.19%
0.0088
17.92%
0.0457
PC Euro 4
33.80%
0.0088
43.55%
0.0422
PC Euro 5
7.58%
0.0090
33.94%
0.0103
PC Euro 6
0.00%
0.00%
Incentivisation of Diesel Vehicles
Petrol vs Diesel
• Difference between petrol and diesel particle emissions in newer vehicles decreasing
but still very significant.
• Petrol emits higher amounts of other pollutant types than diesel e.g. benzene
• Emissions from both fuel types are harmful but have differing quantities of important
pollutant types and differing health impacts.
• We have had a problem with PM2.5 and NOX for many years, incentivising diesel makes
this worse
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the EPA for funding this research and the previous projects on
which it builds
Thank You