REPORT: Diesel emissions the main cause of 3000 deaths per year in London
According to a London Assembly report, air pollution in the UK capital may have contributed to the deaths of some 3,000 people in the year 2005. Further, while not as important as the health of London's populace, the report estimates that these health-related issues cost £20 billion per year to treat. The main culprit for the city's poor air quality? Diesel engines. Says Darren Johnson, Chair of the London Assembly's Environment Committee:
London's air pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations. Reducing air pollution is not just about improving the environment in some abstract way. Our report shows that it's about saving lives.Diesel engines are extremely popular in Europe, due in part to a set of regulations favoring the oil-burners low carbon emissions figures. While it's true that diesel engines are more efficient than their gas-swilling siblings, they aren't quite as squeaky clean when judged based on nitrogen oxide or particulate matter emissions, though new technology is improving these shortcomings every day.
In response to these findings, the Environment Committee is calling on mayor Boris Johnson to promote the use of biofuel for public transportation, set up low emission zones in selected areas and display real-time pollution levels in public electronic displays.
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ShaunneyCakes 9:43PM (5/04/2009)
Just another reason to go all electric!
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tom engineer 11:06PM (5/04/2009)
in respose to these findings... I recommend introducing diesel particulate filters and incentivizing cars that do not pollute as much.
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Lad 12:16AM (5/05/2009)
It's interesting to note that diesel/gasoline ICEs have been killing people for years all over the world, especially in the U.S. It's not like the oil and auto company's are surprised...they just armed themselves with high paid attorneys to defend their crimes and lots of lobbyists to buy off the federal and state politicians. Amazing what you can accomplish when you control the government by passing out favors and campaign funding.
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bill 12:28AM (5/05/2009)
Yep, thats right. They all got together and said lets build this nasty little bugger so we can kill off our customers.
What gibberish and complete utter nonsense.
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Nick 12:54AM (5/05/2009)
@bill
F-tard, Lad is right, just make a litte research instead of inventing your 'expert opinion' out of thin air. The govt has for a long time worked hand in hand with the oil and car industry.
Just stick your dum@$$ head out of the sand, the entire California railway system was ripped out and replaced by freeways financed by Philips Petroleum and a few other powerful corporations with interests in oil and automobile manufacturing.
Marcel Williams 1:16PM (5/05/2009)
Dimethyl ether is much cleaner and can be made from renewable methanol.
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Russ Finley 1:34AM (5/05/2009)
Switching to biodiesel will help some but it comes with its own environmental baggage. No easy way out now that they have so many smokers on the road. Oh well. Fix one problem, make two more.
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Michael Coates 2:37AM (5/05/2009)
There's an awful lot of key data missing from this story, such as:
(1) 3,000 deaths out of how many total?
(2) What are the contributing factors, i.e., old uncontrolled diesel engines vs. newer ones w/DPF, SCR, etc.?
(3) How much of the diesel is from automotive transport and how much from ocean-going vessels running bunker fuel?
There's more to this than the simple headline of death-causing diesel vehicles.
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Jon 6:38AM (5/05/2009)
I think this article takes the point of view that 3000 deaths from diesel is 3000 too many, regardless of the actual total.
Michael Coates 11:54AM (5/05/2009)
Clearly any preventable deaths are bad and need to be addressed, but this article is very vague about what the cause is, hence it is difficult or impossible to pinpoint the culprit. To paint "diesel" as the problem when the range of emissions between an ocean-going ship and a modern diesel car is so great is disingenuous at best. That's my point.
Snowdog 6:36AM (5/05/2009)
This is not a surprise. Many Euro cities have poor air quality directly attributable to their high reliance on diesels over the years.
One reason I am thankful they didn't catch on in NA in the past. OK if they catch on now that they have significantly cleaned up their act.
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Gordon 8:26AM (5/05/2009)
What the report misses is the fact that the Euro emissions standards - similar to the US EPA Emission standards - have drastically reduced the levels of Particulates and noxious gases. The report's use of 2005 data paints a far bleaker picture than the reality, which is that the air in London is far cleaner than it has been for decades.
3,000 sounds a lot but in a population of around 8 million it is a tiny number, especially when compared to the number dying from smoking related illness. 3,000 is also a very different number to the 1,000 quoted by previous experts - what does "contributed to" mean anyway? - certainly not the headline-grabbing "main cause" in the title of this article.
Gordon, London
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Richard 9:32AM (5/05/2009)
Another question would be, if these diesel cars were all replaced by gasoline cars of comparable era, how many deaths would have been attributed to their pollution? Zero? More? Seems like a reasonable question at any rate.
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jharlan 10:14AM (5/05/2009)
This is a typical article using bad or no science to link deaths to something the left wants to demonize. There is no way the cause of death can be linked to diesels. These deaths probably involved smokers.
The end game of course is to get the masses on mass transit so the population can be more easily controlled and leave the use of automobiles to the elite. What you will see is the continual onslaught of increased taxes and fees, a plethora of regulations making vehicles more expensive to manufacture, so in the end the common people will not be able to afford cars and have to ride the dam bus.
If they really wanted to curtail emissions you would be hearing of the millions of tons of pollutants spewing into the air from commercial aircraft, but since this is one of the preferred mediums of transportation of the elite, you will hear not a word about it.
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stratos66 12:08PM (5/05/2009)
The deaths are from PM10 emissions. London has appalling roadside air quality - so bad that the government is on the verge of being taken to court by the EU for failing to meet improvement targets, set five years ago. The kerbstones on roads such as Regents Street are blackened from the rubbish pumped out from taxi and bus exhausts.
And there aren't that many ocean going vessels in central London, what with it being a city.
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