SUVs worst polluters
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03/06/2008
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Times Of India (New Delhi)
Anumita Roychowdhury, of CSE's Right to Clean Air Campaign, says: "Government and industry data on heat trapping CO 2 emissions that directly depend on the amount of fuel burnt, show that oil guzzling vehicles are hitting the road.' A pointer to why the industry and ministry are fighting shy could lie in the figures CSE got out of ARAI. Diesel car models with engine size less than 1,600 cc and produced between 1996 and 2000, the NGO found, emit 129 gm/km but comparable post-2005 models emits 149 gm/km. Using similar mathematical models, it extrapolated that the fuel economy in this class had dropped from 20 km/litre to 18 km/litre. SUVs, predictably, came out worst polluters. SUV models of 1996-2000 with engine size less than 3,000 cc emitted 189 gm/- km, while post-2000 models emitted 229 gm/km and post-2005 models emitted 256 gm/km. The fuel economy of SUVs had dropped from 14 km/litre in 1996-2000 models to 10 km/litre in post 2005 models: the guzzlers were consuming the equivalent of almost two small cars. The increase in CO 2 emissions in Delhi from two-wheelers and cars, CSE said, emerged out of the type of technology used, unbridled growth in number of vehicles on road. TNN