"Nick wrote in message after me .
..
The laws on vehicle pollution continue to get tougher and tougher and the
manufacturers have had to comply to continue to sell vehicles. There has
been massive strides in reducing pollution from cars, per mile travelled.
Catalytic Converters, Electronic Engine Control, lean burn engines, two
stage ignition, direct petrol injection, particle traps etc with more to
come. We are significantly reducing overall pollution figures despite a
massive increase in vehicles, now all we need to do is get rid of all
those
old polluting buses.

I suggest that you take the effort to find out the facts behind the
government and motor lobby propaganda. That is completely untrue.

No it's not! everything I've written above is true. Ignoring the data, if
you simply look at the petrol consumption of ,say, a 1600cc car 30 years ago
( about 26mpg) and compare it with a modern engine ( about 40+mpg) you will
find significant improvements in efficiency which also does relate to the
pollution produced, even without catalists in the exhaust system. The fact
that these modern cars also have much more inside them consuming power
proves my point further.
..

2) Catalytic converters virtually eliminate carbon monoxide, but
increase the amount of nitrogen oxides. Worse, they work only after
the engine has warmed up (about 5 miles) and the average trip in the
UK is about 3 miles. Also, they don't work at all well when the engine
is idling (see (1). The reason that they "reduce pollution" is the
the government is very careful to measure only what they do reduce.

I will give you that an INCIDENTAL effect has been the removal of lead
and sulphur but, as someone with breathing problems, I can witness that
pollution for a given amount of traffic is getting worse.

Probably due to the significant rise in the use of Diesel engines (in cars)
which produce lots of small particules (soot) which get into our lungs and
clog them up. Particle Traps are on their way to cure this problem, I think
it's one of the French manufacturers that is already installing them. I too
have developed Asthma in the last 10 years.


3) The various regulations have the effect of increasing the weight
of vehicles, discouraging more economical two-wheeled transport (both
motorcycles and bicycles, ridden on the road). I believe that it would
now be cheaper for me to get a HGV licence than a motorcycle one, and I
am a very "low risk" person. And cycling is now finished, as a form of
medium-distance commuting (3-10 miles), and that is DIRECTLY due to the
changes in regulations and attitudes of the "powers that be."

Other people have pointed out the errors in your "pollution-free" car
theory. All it does is move the pollution from the suburbs to the
power station, though I agree that doing so COULD be used to reduce
pollution. I know of no plans that any government has, and definitely
not the UK, to do so.


Nobody has pointed out a flaw at all, to me they just show they don't know
about Fuel Cells, their possibilities, uses and how fast the technology is
advancing so there is little chance of agreement on this topic.

Oh, and with power stations also going over to the use of Fuel Cells
pollution from them will reduce too. :-)

--
Regards
Bob

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