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A comment on London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution by a third. Parent comment

Re:London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution b... by growlist on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @09:25AM (#21323321)
Try following a diesel versus a petrol as a cyclist. There are estimates that the push for diesel is directly responsible for tens of thousands of excess deaths in the UK, for example.
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Re:London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution b... by MisterTea on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @09:40AM (#21323465)
Are you referring to a modern clean diesel with DPF/SCR or the old mechanical smoke belching rattlers? My friends Passat was a 2009 model I believe.
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Re:London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution b... by Brakenshire on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @09:57AM (#21323615)
Diesels from 2009 produce 5-10x higher emissions than the regulatory limits when used in real world conditions. Even diesels built this year vastly exceed the required emissions. They actually had to include a fudge factor which they’re slowly decreasing because diesels were so much worse than they were supposed to be.
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Re:London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution b... by mprovost on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @09:49AM (#21323552)
The 2009 model year is when VW started to program their diesels to cheat on emissions tests.
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Re:London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution b... by mikestew on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @11:40AM (#21324913)
Are you referring to a modern clean diesel...

"...or my friend's 2009 VW?" When speaking of emissions output, I find it amusing that your anecdata involves a Volkswagen diesel.

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Re:London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution b... by onlingyding on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @12:19PM (#21325455)
I don't know how true this is but I've heard the older diesels (2000 era) actually had lower NOx emissions than the newer models due to them running at lower temperatures as they weren't trying to hit newer regulations on particulate emissions.

This also then led to newer models emitting finer particulate which was more easily picked up by the wind and could travel into the lungs more easily instead of denser particulate which fell to the roadside.

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Re:London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution b... by growlist on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @01:09PM (#21326086)
This is definitely my experience - breathing diesel exhaust now makes my lungs immediately tighten up in a way that didn't used to happen. Perhaps I'm just getting old though.
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