Most of us know that there was a scandal recently (ongoing) about how manufacturers of diesel cars – and I’m referring here particularly to Volkswagen – falsified the emissions tests for diesel engines. In short, they used software to present to the customer that the emissions were better than they actually are in real use. It is cost Volkswagen billions of dollars in compensation and they are still paying out. The worst part of that scandal was that kids at school at junctions or on busy roads are suffering more as a result causing asthma and psychological issues.
That scandal was called ‘Dieselgate’ after President Nixon’s scandalous departure after Watergate. Well, we’ve now got something similar happening with petrol engined cars. It appears that carmakers have cheated tests for greenhouse gas emissions in petrol vehicles.
An independent researcher, Emissions Analytics, have found that the so-called rigourous laboratory test introduced by the European Union in 2017 was open to manipulation.
The research tells us that petrol cars on the road emit 25% more carbon dioxide on average than those tested in the laboratory and this applies to cars sold since September 2018 i.e. this is recent and it applies to new cars.
The new laboratory test was meant to be a more accurate representation of all road driving conditions than the previous test.
Nick Molden of Emissions Analytics said that the findings could well be evidence of another emissions scandal similar to the Dieselgate scandal as mentioned.
What relevancy does is have on the relationship between animals and humans? Well, the problem with diesels is that they emit nitrogen dioxide which is toxic to people and the problem with petrol engines is that they emit carbon dioxide which we now know causes global warming. Global warming (if you believe in it) is probably the single biggest threat to all animals on the planet. Arguably, animals are already being affected dramatically by global warming.
You’ll have to watch this space to see how this develops but don’t be surprised if we have a ‘Petrolgate’ scandal.
