I have an overall question that's been bothering me for years. Which is more dangerous for our health, a diesel car or a gasoline car?
This is quite a cliche question and I can find a lot of newspapers reporting that diesel is way more dangerous, but I would like to hear a more engineering/scientific/economic approach to this. Can anyone help me with this? I have a series of other questions that would help me to answer this overall question. Here is goes...
In this article, they write:
Diesel fumes are significantly more damaging to health than those from petrol engines, according to research which shows that related air pollution contributes to lung disease, heart attacks, asthma and other respiratory problems.
And they are referencing a nice report written by Department for Energy and Climate Change.
So it is agreed by many that Diesel is more dangerous than gasoline. But at the same time, the diesel engine has a higher efficiency.
Q1: Is the efficiency also reflected in the amount of gases getting out? In other words, an engine with a higher efficiency releases a lower amount of gases?
Then there is a second question, which might sound a bit stupid but,
Q2: Why are people so much for buying Diesel cars (especially in Europe)? They are way more expensive, and yet so popular in Europe.
Q3: Is the lower price of Diesel fuel really making a difference? Or is it the power and reliability?
At the same time, the regulations in US are more strict to Diesel cars.
Q4: Is it because of the emissions or is there another reason for this?
Q5: Is really NOx worse for our health than COx?
Q6: What are the engineering limitations in reducing the NOx's?
I know that some question are not strictly related to engineering, but I want to avoid posting the same questions in other places. However, I would appreciate if you could answer to any of the questions. I would highly appreciate any help in understanding this.
I think this is a very important issue, because most of people (like me) are unaware of these issues.