The Environmental Agency has quietly issued a rule requiring U.S. oil refineries to produce ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel to substantially reduce emissions.
The fuel will contain 97 percent less sulfur than ordinary diesel fuel, The Christian Science Monitor reported. The rule, issued last week, requires at least 80 percent of the diesel fuel produced for highway use be ULSD-compliant.
Under the second part of the rule, all filling stations will be required to sell ULSD instead of, or in addition to, regular diesel fuel.
The move is designed to cut car-produced pollution by about 10 percent, The Monitor said. Although diesel-fueled automobiles account for only about 3 percent of cars sold, up to 90 percent less emissions are anticipated with EPA-mandated "clean diesel" engines that will debut within the next two years.
Richard Kassel, director of the Clean Fuels and Vehicles Project for the Natural Resources Defense Council told the Monitor the new EPA ruled "is the biggest step toward cutting vehicle pollution since lead was taken out of gasoline two decades ago."
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
Dirty smoke from ships found to degrade air quality in coastal cities
Ah, nothing like breathing clean coastal air, right? Think again. Chemists at UC San Diego have measured for the first time the impact that dirty smoke from ships cruising at sea and generating electricity in port can have on the air quality of coastal cities.
Revolutionary green technology bus
Insight from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, commitment from two Michigan companies and funding from the Department of Energy have led to the commercialization of a lightweight urban transit bus with double the fuel efficiency of conventional hybrid buses.
International team establishes unique observatory in Antarctica
A team of scientists representing six international institutions, including Texas A&M University, has succeeded in reaching the summit of Antarctica – also a monumental achievement for ground-based astronomy -- to establish a new astronomical observatory at Dome Argus on the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau.
Radical engine redesign would reduce pollution, oil consumption
Researchers have created the first computational model to track engine performance from one combustion cycle to the next for a new type of engine that could dramatically reduce oil consumption and the emission of global-warming pollutants.
Multitasking canola: A California miracle crop?
(AP) -- A hardy but pedestrian plant is doing triple duty in California's agricultural heartland. Farmers, water managers and agriculture researchers are closely watching an experiment using canola plants to absorb the salt from soil and water. The seeds are then crushed to extract oil for blending into environmentally friendly biodiesel.
Fuel from food? The feast is over
(AP) -- In future years we may look back at the Great Mexican Tortilla Crisis of 2006 as the time when ethanol lost its vroom. Right or wrong, that was when blame firmly settled on biofuels for the surge in food prices. The diversion of American corn from flour to fuel put the flat corn bread out of reach for Mexico's poorest.
Urea tanks on diesel trucks -- that's the law in the United States starting in 2010
Urea tanks will be standard equipment for most new diesel trucks, buses, cars, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) manufactured in the United States after Jan. 1, 2010. An automotive grade of urea will be injected into the vehicles' exhaust stream to "scrub" nitrogen oxide (NOx) from the diesel exhaust.
Rainforest fungus makes diesel
(PhysOrg.com) -- A unique fungus that makes diesel compounds has been discovered living in trees in the rainforest, according to a paper published in the November issue of
Microbiology. The fungus is potentially a totally new source of green energy and scientists are now working to develop its fuel producing potential.