MOTOR VEHICLE & ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION

UNIT-1
EMISSION STANDARD & REGULATIONS MEASURMENT & TESTING PROCEDURES

Vehicular Pollution Control

INTRODUCTION

Human activities generate three broad sources of air pollution: stationary or point, mobile, and indoor. In developing countries especially in the rural area, indoor air pollution from using open fires for cooking and heating may be a serious problem. Industries, power plants etc. are the cause of stationary air pollution. But in urban areas –both developing and developed countries, it is predominantly mobile or vehicular pollution that contributes to overall air quality problem. In Delhi, the data shows that of the total 3,000 metric tonnes of pollutants1 belched out everyday, close to two-third (66%) is from vehicles. Similarly, the contribution of vehicles to urban air pollution is 52% in Bombay and close to one-third in Calcutta.2 Katz (1994) has estimated that in Santiago, Chile, wherever pollution concentration exceeds ambient standards, mobile sources or vehicles are the cause. Similarly, in case of Budapest, Hungary, transport is the dominant source of emissions except sulphur dioxide (SO2), contributing 57% of Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), 80% of lead (Pb), 81% of carbon monoxide (CO) and 75% of hydrocarbon (HC) emissions (Lehoczki, 2000).

A number of countries have targeted vehicles and associated sectors (such as, fuel) to curb the menace. Notable successful initiatives are: conversion of public transport from diesel to CNG in Delhi, switching of Vikrams (tuk-tuks) from diesel to electricity in Kathmandu valley, shifting from leaded to unleaded gasoline in many countries etc. Still the pollution problem in urban cities may continue to loom large due to ever-burgeoning vehicular population, which is outpacing any such measure and road network development. Following data gives a glimpse of such skewed growth. Against 1.9 million vehicular population in 1990 in Delhi, it rose to nearly 3.6 million in the year 2001 (i.e., an increase of nearly 87%). During the same period, Delhi’s population has increased by only 43% (from 9.5 million to 13.8 million) and road-length by merely 14% (from 22,000 Km to 25,000 Km) respectively. Situation is similar across a number of cities in India and the developing world. This indicates the exigency of controlling vehicular pollution.

The worst thing about vehicular pollution is that it cannot be avoided as the emissions are emitted at the near-ground level where we breathe. Pollution from vehicles gets reflected in increased mortality and morbidity and is revealed through symptoms like cough, headache, nausea, irritation of eyes, various bronchial problems and visibility. The pollution from vehicles are due to discharges like CO, unburned HC, Pb compounds, NOx, soot, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and aldehydes, among others, mainly from the tail pipes. A recent study reports that in Delhi one out of every 10 school children suffers from asthma that is worsening due to vehicular pollution.3 Similarly, two of the three most important health related problems in Bangkok are caused by air pollution and lead contamination, both of which are contributed greatly by motor vehicles.4 Situation is same in a number of other mega-cities across the globe – be it Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Santiago in Latin America or Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Dhaka in Asia or Ibadan and Lagos in Africa or in cities of Eastern Europe, the erstwhile USSR and the Middle East.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 4 to 8% of deaths that occur annually in the world are related to air pollution and of its constituents, the WHO has identified SPM as the most sinister in terms of its effect on health.

The SPM is not homogeneous. It has a number of constituents. As a result, it is measured and characterised in various ways: (i) TSP (Total suspended particulates) with particle diameters < 50-100 μm is the fraction sampled with high-volume samplers. (ii) PM: Inhalable particles having a diameter <10 μm penetrates through the nose, by breathing. (iii) Thoracic particles: are approximately equal to PM particles. (iv) PM: ‘Fine fraction’ with a diameter <2.5 μm penetrates to the lungs; and (v) Black smoke: a measure of the blackness of a particle sample gives a relative value for the soot content of the sample. Due to their high health damaging potential10102.5 recent studies have started paying more attention to PM10 and PM2.5 particles.

The different air pollutants due to vehicles can have effects at all the three levels – local (e.g., smoke affecting visibility, ambient air, noise etc.), regional (such as smog, acidification) and global (i.e., global warming). The vehicles besides being the prominent source of air pollutants also account for a number of external effects, such as congestion, noise, accidents, road wear and tear, and ‘barrier effects.

Under this background this note investigates what is the economics of vehicular pollution control and what policy instruments / initiatives can be employed to control the vehicular pollution. For a prescription to yield desired results, it should hit the right source of pollution. Section 2 gives in brief the contribution of different sources to vehicular air pollution problem. This is followed by the economics of vehicular pollution control in Section 3. The section also explores the instruments that can be applied to control vehicular pollution. 

The major difference between developing and developed countries lies in the fact that institutions are in place and information of health impacts are known to the policy makers. For developing countries, the challenge rests on devising suitable policy instruments that fully take into account the damage caused by the polluting source. A discussion of complexity involved in estimating the damage function is given in Section 4. Section 5 gives under what conditions a particular instrument will be more appropriate, especially in the case of mega cities of developing world followed by India’s experience in combating vehicular pollution. The concept note concludes in Section 6. It is to be stated at the outset that the note covers mainly the environmental consequences of transport and does not investigate the other important external effects of the sector such as barrier effect, congestion effect etc.

VEHICULAR AIR POLLUTION – CAUSES OF EMISSIONS

Vehicular pollution sources are not homogenous, as there is a complete range of technological mix. The mix could be in terms of fuel used – gasoline or diesel or natural gas; or engine type – 2-stroke or 4-stroke and/or a combination of these. Emissions from Gasoline Vehicles Gasoline-powered engines are of two types: 4-stroke and 2-stroke.  gives the various sources of emissions in the two cases. The exhaust emissions from gasoline-run vehicles consist of CO, HC, NOx, SO2, and partial oxides of aldehydes, besides particulate matters including lead salts.

EMISSION TESTING IN VARIOUS VEHICLE:

Motor vehicle exhaust emissions are a significant source of pollution, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. These pollutants can be harmful to human health and the environment and lead to the formation of ground level ozone (smog). Exhaust emissions from cars and trucks are one of the single greatest sources of air pollution in the Chicago and Metro-East St. Louis areas.

The Illinois EPA's vehicle emissions inspection program plays an important role in improving air quality and public health in Illinois. The federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7511a) requires vehicle emissions inspection programs in large, urbanized areas that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone. Although Illinois has made significant strides to clean its air, levels of air pollution in the Chicago and Metro-East St. Louis areas still exceed the ozone NAAQS. Additionally, the Illinois Vehicle Emissions Inspection Law of 2005 (625 ILCS 5/13C) requires a vehicle emissions inspection program to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles in these areas of Illinois. For these reasons, the vehicle emissions inspection program is part of Illinois EPA’s strategy to reduce air pollution in Illinois and bring the Chicago and Metro-East areas into attainment of the ozone NAAQS.

Through the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) test, vehicle emissions inspections in Illinois identify malfunctioning emission control systems that often result in vehicles exceeding federal emission standards. Requiring repairs on such vehicles helps clean the air while improving the vehicle's performance and fuel economy.

Most 1996 and newer gasoline-powered passenger vehicles are subject to emissions inspections after they are four years old (e.g. 2012 vehicles are being inspected in 2016 for the first time). The inspection month coincides with the expiration date of the vehicle license plate. Typically, even model-year vehicles are inspected during even years, and odd model-year vehicles are inspected in odd years.

The Illinois EPA oversees its vehicle emissions inspection program that is operated by its contractor. The Illinois EPA enforces the vehicle emissions inspection requirement by partnering with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office to deny vehicle license plate registrations to non-complying vehicles.

Automobile pollution sources effect and control of automobile pollution Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles Standards and Technologies for Controlling Emissions Controlling Emissions from In-Use Vehicles Inspection and maintenance (I/M) measures to control emissions from in-use vehicles are an essential complement to emission standards for new vehicles. Although difficult to implement, an effective inspection and maintenance program can significantly reduce emissions from uncontrolled vehicles. I/M programs are also needed to ensure that the benefits of new-vehicle control technologies are not lost through poor maintenance and tampering with emission controls. I/M programs for gasoline vehicles commonly include measurement of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide concentrations in the exhaust. These have limited effectiveness but can identify gross malfunctions in emission control systems. Newer programs such as the IM240 procedure developed in the United States use dynamometers and constant volume sampling to measure emissions in grams per kilometer over a realistic driving cycle. Inspection and maintenance of high-technology, computer-controlled vehicles can be enhanced substantially with on-board diagnostic systems. For diesel vehicles, smoke opacity measurements in free acceleration are the most common inspection method. This approach also has limited effectiveness but can identify serious emission failures. Opacity measurements can also be used to control white smoke emissions from twostroke motorcycles.On-road emission checks can improve the effectiveness of periodic I/M programs. Checks for smoke emissions from two-stroke and diesel vehicles can be made more effective by visual prescreening. The effectiveness of on-road checks for hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide can be enhanced by remote sensing the concentrations of these pollutants in the vehicle exhaust.

There are two main types of I/M programs: centralized programs, in which all inspections are done in high-volume test facilities operated by the government or contracted to competitively-selected private operators, and decentralized programs, in which both emissions testing and repairs are done in private garages.