Internal combustion can save the environment

Diesel has been an enemy for petrolheads since old Top Gear and since dieselgate environmentalists have something in common with the petrolheads. There is no justifying possible in those bubbles of hatred towards what should be the fuel of today. I shall now explain why.

You see the environment has become an important issue for the entire world. For good reason. Due to CO2 emissions, the weather has become more extreme, the ice is melting and thus the sea level is rising. It is important to do something now before David Attenborough needs a submarine to see polar bears. Today most people and governments think that electric cars are the solution, no exhaust and no internal combustion means no pollution. This is terible news for petrolheads. It means that the symfony of vibrations, sounds and power that is internal combustion will become a nothing more than a memory. This is also bad news for the environment. The electric cars of today aren't good for the environment at all. The electric car is produced in a very polluting way. And when the 'zero emission' vehicle starts moving it uses electricity usually made by burning fossil fuels in a factory. Now we can probably run all electric cars on green energy in the future making them very desirable from the environmental perspective, but the future is by definition not right now. So, is there a solution to this problem? Yes!

DIESEL. Diesel used to be nasty, slow and the only reason it existed was to save some money. However, times have changed. The diesel engine has become a lot better. 30 years ago the most lifeless, dreary, cheap, kill me now car you could possibly think of was a diesel hatchback. Today you can buy a BMW 120d with 190 hp that does 0 to 100km/h in 7 seconds. That isn't dreary that's speed and power.

Moreover, it is better for the environment. Diesel engines today are very smart. Today it is normal that a diesel engine uses a common-rail system with electronic injection. This system uses one common high pressure reservoir of fuel. What makes this particular system so lovely is the use of solenoid valves. These valves are operated electronically wich means that the amount of diesel in the combustion chamber at any point during injection can be controlled by a computer. The efficiency is mindblowing. There is something called exhaust gas aftertreatment. The exhaust gas aftertreatment works incredibly well in modern diesel cars. In a way a diesel car in an urban environment filters the ambient air according to Bart Somers, professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Volkswagen gave the numbers for CO2 intensity of production and running for the ID3 and the Golf VIII diesel. Somers used those numbers for a calculation and found out that the ID3 is better for the environment after 120 000 kilometers. That's about 12 years of driving. Global warming doesn't wait 12 years. It is happening right now. We should do something right now. We should drive diesel cars.

Why we should love diesel? Environmentalists and politicians can stop worrying while we as petrol/dieselheads enjoy saving the planet by doing what we do best; manually changing gears and listening to the symfony of internal combustion.

Thank you for reading, bump and comment.

Sources

-Nu.nl, Diesel wordt schoner, maar is definitief uit de gratie

-anwb.nl, Alles over diesel (B7, B100 en XTL)

-Autoweek, Bart Vergeer; Hoe diesel eigenlijk schoner is dan je denkt

-BMW.nl, TECHNISCHE GEGEVENS VAN DE BMW 1 SERIE.

Quotes were translated from dutch to enlish to the best of my abilities.