Will California get small engines back?
- Thread starter Chris142
- Start date
Small engines are some of the most polluting engines on a per unit of time basis, so switching to electric for these makes sense for most situations. Plus they are quieter, easier to use, and will probably end up being more reliable than small engines.
There is no law that requires the use of an SCR/DEF. The OEMs are free to use Lean NOx traps or extremely heavy EGR if the so choose, in fact the EPA and CARB were initially hoping the OEMs would go the LNT route since it didn't require DEF. The use of an SCR/DEF is just the most cost effective and fuel efficient way to meet the required emission regulations so that's the route the OEMs went.
So what is the issue on the Great Plains this AM, 10 billion small engines all running at redline?
https://air.plumelabs.com/en/
Somewhere on this forum is a 70’s Firebird ad in a polluted setting in LA that is so bad that I couldn’t believe they would shoot the ad footage that day.
If you have Amazon Prime then there’s a few episodes of Colombo in season 1 that capture 70’s LA pollution.
LA seldom looks like that today (the exceptions are when the largest fires are raging).
The OEMs being free to use any method under the sun to achieve targets isn’t fully accurate . Any system would require approval and no exhaust traps for diesel to date are certified which costs on the order of $100,000,000
Water wash and mist removes more NOX, sulphur, soot and CO than def/scr
and the water can be reclaimed and reused, OEMs actually have attempted to use a system that recovers the water generated by combustion for this purpose because it is widely assumed consumers can’t be trusted to keep a expanding freeze proof water bottle filled with water
Worse the EPA based on about 20 years of commentary is extraordinarily against pollution controls involving simple water. Even if it passes with flying colors it likely would be rejected on technicalities
LA smog is often used as a "see, this proves it", but the reality is most of that smog was unburned hyrdocarbons combining with other gases to create Ozone. That would have been erased with closed loop control engines which the OEM's would have migrated too anyway, without any further emission controls. Possibly the emission laws expedited it, but if you stopped smog testing LA wouldn't go back to that era either way.
Also, a lot of the smog back in the 1970's were from industrial plants, which were very plentiful in the 1970's - California made many things, most of whose production was shipped to Mexico then China.
I am not against emmission laws, but the "LA Smog" strawman isn't really an accurate analogy. We wouldn't be going back to that if they stopped emission testing, nor do states without emission testing have these problems, for example.
I have never heard of water wash emissions control. So after doing some quick googling, I'm assuming you're talking about a wet scrubbing process, which seemed like its actually a absorption process which seems to work great in an industrial application where you have access to clean water all the time and the ability to store/clean the polluted water from the absorption process. Everything about the wet scrubbing process just seems less than ideal for automotive, now you'll be hauling around a tank of polluted water that you'll need to empty. This is before I even checked how much water you would actually need cause I suspect that the amount of water you can condense out of the exhaust isn't going to be enough for the wet scrubbing process.
We had really high winds today. Unusually hot this week, it was 80F yesterday combined with lots of dust being blown - the haze was very noticeable. Tomorrow in the 40s with a good chance of snow :/.
I would say no, you are not going to get gas tools again
Unless California state laws are challenged. It’s state law that is banning your gasoline small engine, not federal
I don't believe its possible because the Clean Air Act contains a carve out for California specifically. It would require re-writing the law which is unlikely to occur.
Not likely, you will need to buy them out of state, probably with cash as to not trigger a house raid. Such a heinous crime deserves the harshest of punishments.
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