I'm going to break this into parts in order to adress the engineering and
science which I believe to be at odds with Sonja's statements:
----- Original Message -----
From: Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2001 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: W. on the Environment
> Dan Minette schreef:
>
> > >California pioneered automobile emissions standards and I believe still
has
> > >the strictest laws on the books.
> >
> > Those are good things, but they do lower gas mileage, thus increasing
the
> > energy used per mile.
>
> The idea of emission standards is to decrease the energy used per mile.
Less
> energy used also means less emission. Or at least that is the idea behind
the
> concept of emission standards here in Europe.
>
I don't think that's correct. It would have been an easy win-win if all
people had to do was improve the efficiency of automobile engines in order
to cut pollution. That's not not what happened. Instead, something had to
be done with the exhaust. Catalytic converters, and the like, were invented
to break down the exhaust and "burn it" if you will after it left the
engine. This does not improve fuel efficiency. Instead, due to the weight
of this equipment, it tends to lower fuel efficiency.
One can see a European site for this at
http://www.aecc.be/
Dan M.
