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NNadir

(33,368 posts)
Wed Sep 23, 2015, 05:41 PM Sep 2015

Volkswagen says the defeat device is not a "safety" issue, and the media agrees.

I'm referring of course, to Volkswagen deliberate software to turn off emissions systems in diesel cars except when they're being inspected.

Diesel pollution is characterized by particulates and NOx, nitrogen oxides.

According to the 2012 international survey of risk factors and disease, (Lancet 2012, 380, 2224–60: For air pollution mortality figures see Table 3, page 2238 and the text on page 2240) about 3.5 million of the roughly seven million people killed by air pollution results from outdoor pollution, of which a significant factor is automotive air pollution. PM10 and NOx are particularly important constituents in the toxicity of air pollution.

Why is everyone buying into the obviously fraudulent statement, equally as fraudulent as the defeat device itself, that this is not a safety issue?

Air pollution is a significant factor in fatal lung cancer, fatal stroke, and fatal heart disease. I would bet that the number of deaths associated with VW's 11 million polluting diesel cars, if one could perform a Bayesian analysis, is comparable, and even in excess, of what the media represents as "car safety" issues, like GM's defective ignition switch, and the defective air bags in Toyotas, Hondas and other cars.

Of course in the case of the air bags and the switch, the fault was not a deliberate conspiracy to defraud. Not so Volkswagen/Audi.

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happyslug

(14,779 posts)
1. Safety Issue relates to people's response to recalls....
Wed Sep 23, 2015, 08:24 PM
Sep 2015

If something is safety related, you have almost 100% compliance with a recall, but if the issue is NOT safety related, the compliance falls to the single digits.

Thus, since this recall is NOT safety related, many people believe you will have very low compliance with the recall. That is why the comment about safety is being made, nothing else.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140630/OEM11/306309986/an-easy-solution-to-recall-compliance

http://prospect.org/article/road-hazard-millions-autos-us-highways-recalled-not-repaired

CRH

(1,553 posts)
2. If the software that turns off emissions during normal use, ...
Sat Sep 26, 2015, 12:41 PM
Sep 2015

was deleted and/or re written, would the car operate within federal/state pollution guidelines.

What beyond loss of horse power and MPG performance would be the likely effect of reprogramming the engine computers?

Moving beyond the trust issue, is this a problem that has a technical or mechanical fix?

To date is there such a thing as clean diesel technology or is it comparable to clean coal rhetoric?

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
4. It is unfortunate that this scandal will give the diesel engine a bad name. With sustainable...
Sat Sep 26, 2015, 01:59 PM
Sep 2015

...fuel, in particular DME, dimethyl ether, which lacks a carbon carbon bond, the diesel engine could be much cleaner than any other propulsion system. In this case the particulates, which are the most dangerous of the constituents of diesel related air pollution. NOx, (nitrogen oxides) can be decomposed catalytically, with the the exception of nitrous oxide, N2O.

Personally I'm opposed to the car CULTure in its entirety, but I concede that things like buses and trucks and in particular tractors for farming, etc, would likely be utilized even in a civilized culture, as opposed to the one in which we live now.

DME can conveniently be prepared by the direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide.

The Nobel Laureate George Olah wrote a review article in the Journal of Organic Chemistry some years back:

J. Org. Chem., 2009, 74 (2), pp 487–498, "Chemical Recycling of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol and Dimethyl Ether: From Greenhouse Gas to Renewable, Environmentally Carbon Neutral Fuels and Synthetic Hydrocarbons"

The chemistry and routes to DME are now well understood, although new methods and approaches appear frequently in the scientific literature.

Unfortunately, only nuclear energy has the potential to produce significant hydrogen without the utilization of dangerous fossil fuels, and because of fear and ignorance, many people hate nuclear energy since they know nothing at all about the subject.

Thus, despite the efforts of organizations like the International DME Association, this superior technology will never do what it might have done, much as nuclear energy was not permitted to do what it might have done.

CRH

(1,553 posts)
5. Thanks for your reply and links, ...
Sat Sep 26, 2015, 02:39 PM
Sep 2015

I do share your view of the car culture, especially for personal use. In the perfect world there would even be alternatives to fossil fuel buses, trucks and farm equipment had the technologies been developed back in the fifties when the future problems resulting from fossil fuel use, were apparent.

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
6. My pleasure. Dr. Olah is still publishing at a very advanced age...
Sun Sep 27, 2015, 01:41 PM
Sep 2015

...

He is now 88 years old, and still working on behalf of humanity, trying to save it from itself. This is the the way we should all go out of the world.

Thank you for making me check in on his recent work: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2015, 137 (27), pp 8720–8729 "Single Step Bi-reforming and Oxidative Bi-reforming of Methane (Natural Gas) with Steam and Carbon Dioxide to Metgas (CO-2H2) for Methanol Synthesis: Self-Sufficient Effective and Exclusive Oxygenation of Methane to Methanol with Oxygen"

While I personally believe that methane (natural gas) should be a banned fuel, at least when mined from fossil deposits, along with petroleum and coal, one can still imagine that there might be many circumstances under which this chemistry might prove useful.

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