Aren diesels dirty?
It’s not the engine, it’s the fuel. The much-maligned diesel engine is not deserving of its bad rap. The diesel engine is one of the great feats of engineering, and was originally designed to run on vegetable oil. It wasn’t until later that the petroleum industry created its own fuel to run in (and subvert the idealist origins of) the diesel engine.
Yes, here in the U.S. they pollute more than gasoline, but greenhouse gas technically isn’t a pollutant. Car pollution, also called emissions, includes stuff like nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, both of which are in high concentrations in diesel exhaust. Their contribution to smog is why diesel car sales are outlawed in California and a few restrictive Northeastern states. Overseas, low-sulfur fuel and additional onboard pollution controls make diesel cars dramatically cleaner. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring the phase-in of this cleaner fuel starting in June 2006, after which any new, properly equipped diesel that burns it will meet stringent new standards. When the time came to return the Liberty, I went to the web to find a diesel filling station. I had to drive a little farther than I would for gas, but I rationalized it away. When I arrived, the diesel pump was out of order. Then I drove around looking for another one, beginning to feel the inconvenie
