[ExI] vw games emissions tests

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Dave Sill
Subject: Re: [ExI] vw games emissions tests

 

On Sun, Sep 27, 2015 at 5:44 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

 >>…You have likely heard by now that VolksWagen is in big trouble with the EPA for rigging their cars to burn clean in test and burn optimally while on the road (two different things.)…How did they do that?

 

>…The trick they used was detecting when the vehicle was on a dynamometer using various sensors.-Dave

 

Ja.  If there are various sensors required to determine which mode, there would need to be a number of people in on the caper at VW.  How many?  Who are they?

This goes back about 8 to 10 years we are told.  That far back, the EPA did not consider carbon dioxide a pollutant.  Now they do.  Nitrogen oxides were considered a pollutant but primarily their restriction was based on the notion they cause global warming.  They are thought to cause airway inflammation, but in the concentrations that cars make them, not really.  

Still we can imagine upstart politicians realizing that nitrogen oxides at one part per million is the same as 1000 parts per billion, and oh my, we have a career to make by chasing and reducing those appalling 1000 ppb NOx, and even the name NOx sounds scary, ja?  So, EPA careerists kept issuing new regs to reduce those 1000 PPB NOx, which resulted in increased emissions of CO2 (because the compliant engines must burn more Diesel fuel to keep the catalytic converters hot) but those don’t count because CO2 isn’t (or wasn’t then) a pollutant.  

So… VW cheats the tests (in a way which violates the spirit of the law but it isn’t entirely clear violates the letter of the law) reducing CO2 emissions at the expense of increased NOx, thus decreasing global warming and acid rain, but American news majors can profit handsomely by convincing the American krautwagon-buying public they have been cheated.

Irony piles upon irony, for the resale values of the “clean” Diesels have plummeted.  But if we consider CO2 a pollutant, these WV “clean” Diesels really are clean without air quotes, compared to their non-cheating competitors.  So if VW fixes the regulation-cheating cars, the happy consumer now will discover she has lower performance and higher fuel bills.  Now she wants it fixed back to the way it was before, but this is probably illegal.  The Beemer and Mercedes owners are watching all this, and they too want their cars rigged with a switch to allow their catalytic converters to cool under low-load conditions, both to save money and save the planet from greenhouse gases, but this too is illegal.

Is this a fun time to be living or what?

spike

 

 

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