Come on, Prius actually cleaning the air?

I've read that in a polluted metro area, any ULEVII or better vehicle will 'clean' the air by emitting air that has less unburned hydrocarbons and particulates than the ambient air.

If that's the case, then the Prius certainly cleans the air.

Volvo says this about PZEV

PZEV (Partial Zero Emission Vehicle) technology is available in California and select North East states in the US. Emissions of hydrocarbons from Volvo's PZEV engine are less than one thousandth of the levels typical of cars built before the advent of catalytic converter technology. In dense city traffic, the engine exhaust may even be cleaner than the ambient air.

Of course, we aren't as good as the Volvo "Smog Eating" concept

http://www.automedia.com/Volvos/Concept/fo...dsm20030601vc/1

Here's another reference

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/27/174212.php

"SULEVs and PZEVs are cars whose emissions are so low that if you run them in a major metropolitan area the air coming out of their exhaust pipe is actually cleaner than the air you're breathing."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bob Allen @ Apr 17 2006, 12:00 PM) [snapback]241008[/snapback]</div>

Technically speaking, the Prius does not remove air pollution from the air. However, it produces far less pollution than any other car asides an electric car. Theoretically, if every mid-sized car in the USA were to become a Prius, the amount of pollution would not change. However, the rate at which pollution is generated would change...pollution would be made at a much slower rate due to the use of the Atkinson-cycle engine as well as the electric motors. In that sense, it is a good thing that the Prius does not pollute as much. So, in a sense, the Prius could indeed help 'clear the air' if only by polluting less.

Somewhat like switching your fuel from fuel oil(diesel) to natural gas...natural gas does pollute, but a whole lot less. And yes, in cities that are very polluted, the exhaust gas from a Prius may just be cleaner than ambient air.

 

Just like Finally_got_one said,
No the Prius won't clean the air, but will emit RELATIVELY clean air. The COx and NOx emissions from other vehicles will not be "cleaned" by the Prius. Plus the ICE uses so little incoming air it can't have much of an effect anyway(when it's running, like on the freeway, away from city smog).

 

All I know is that each gallon of gasoline NOT burned prevents the emission of 19 pounds of carbon dioxide.

 

Even if Prius were a zero emission vehicle (ZEV), each vehicle still produces particulate matter at 2.5 to 10.0 micrometers (µm) just rolling down the road from bits of dust, oxidized tire particles and collision with suspended atmospheric particles such as aerosols, salt and smoke. If things are too good to believe, they usually are.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Traanya Drinker @ Apr 17 2006, 01:43 PM) [snapback]241064[/snapback]</div>

Quite an assumption. You are assuming the efficiency at which the gasoline is burned. Much better to emit carbon dioxide (which is processed naturally by plants using photosynthesis) than to emit carbon monoxide or other unburned hydrocarbons, which are not processed naturally. That is, after all, what smog testers test for when people take their cars into a smog check station (along with minute contaminants such as NOx and SOx).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Apr 17 2006, 03:05 PM) [snapback]241115[/snapback]</div>

From the standpoint of the air conditioner, I agree. Looking at engine emissions, though, that is a different question. To date I am unaware of any car that will 'eat the smog out of the air' without producing any itself. Still, in reducing emissions, the Prius is the best answer to the problem of smog.

 

Interesting fact (you may not know), there are industrial gas turbines being produced that burn at such high temperatures that they actually do clean the air that passes through them.

 

I've read about cars that actually clean the air and I think they involve using rhodium-platinum catalytic converters.

 

Even if a car burns particulates and/or hydrocarbons present in ambient air, it still emits carbon. There's no way around that.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Apr 18 2006, 12:05 AM) [snapback]241115[/snapback]</div>

One claim Volvo makes is that their "PremAir" radiators convert ground-level ozone into normal oxygen. But to me this sounds more like a marketing thing. The only really environment-friendly car is the one that was never built.

 

My prius cleans the air too while I drive! I strapped a ozone maching on the roof....

I would lean more to tide lands responce..

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(vtie @ Apr 18 2006, 08:15 AM) [snapback]241493[/snapback]</div>

If taken to the extreme, the only environment-friendly buildings, boats, roads, towns, cities and such are the ones that are never built. For that matter, human beings are not environment-friendly, as they produce emissions, and greenhouse gasses at that! :wacko: But to return to reality...

We have established that the Prius emits less pollution than pretty much every car out there. As such, it is more friendly to the environment because there is less pollution caused. Certainly more environment-friendlier than an H2!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(finally_got_one @ Apr 18 2006, 11:47 AM) [snapback]241529[/snapback]</div>

Not that I'm claiming to be zero emissions myself, but isn't it at least theoretically possible to create buildings that produce energy instead of consuming it?

I'm sure our lungs do a better job of cleaning the air than our cars do...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Traanya Drinker @ Apr 17 2006, 01:43 PM) [snapback]241064[/snapback]</div>

If a gallon of gas weighs about 8 pounds then how do you get 19 pounds of CO2 just burning it? :blink:

 

Because you suck in a lot of air [containing oxygen] to burn it with.
.
_H*

 

Leave ozone alone for 20 minutes and you have half the ozone you started with. This is how I convert trapped ozone in my parked car (even without the PremAir catalyst). God I'm green....is there a tree close to hug?......lol.

Tideland,
Is your arguement for Volvos cleaning the air in regard to the engine or the cabin filter?
Remember if a fuel/air mix for combustion is about 16/1 then every 16 units of air into an engine gets 1 part carbon by-products added to it before it goes out the tailpipe. I don't consider this exaust cleaner then the incoming air (we'd be choking to death if we all breathed exhaust quality air all day).

Go to www.autoshop101.com there is a good article by Toyota on emissions from ICE.