Airpocalypse

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...rpocalyse.html



London's Dirty Secret: Pollution Worse Than Beijing's



London has a dirty secret.



Levels of the harmful air pollutant nitrogen dioxide at a city-center monitoring station are the highest in Europe. Concentrations are greater even than in Beijing, where expatriates have dubbed the city's smog the "airpocalypse."



It's the law of unintended consequences at work. European Union efforts to fight climate change favored diesel fuel over gasoline because it emits less carbon dioxide, or CO2. However, diesel's contaminants have swamped benefits from measures that include a toll drivers pay to enter central London, a thriving bike-hire program and growing public-transport network.

Time to face reality: London was designed for bicycles, not motor vehicles..

A few years ago there was some story about a company in Carmarillo that was injecting hot gasoline w/ catalyst directly into the cylinders of an engine, much like a diesel. Unlike diesel, all of the fuel was injected at once near top dead center for a high pressure ratio Otto cycle, more efficient than a diesel cycle for the same compression. Supposedly the engine would fire at really lean fuel mixtures so the vehicle could cruise at 40 km/l.

That would be ultimate smog engine. It's surprising more hasn't been done with it.


Bret Cahill