Emissions from road traffic could be reduced

A major source of air pollution, namely emissions from road traffic, could be reduced through enforcement of control standards. A standardised evaluation scale was set up by the European Union back in 1992. These standards are generally known as the European Emission Standards (or Euro Standards). They provide limits for exhaust emissions of all new vehicles. The limits are set at various degrees for various types of vehicles.
The Euro Emission Standards on vehicles are now being implemented in most parts of the world. A number of countries in the sub-continent have also applied these vehicular emission standards. Most importantly, ever since the 90s, these standards are constantly going through the process of modification. The main aim to employ these vehicular emission benchmarks is to decrease the amount of toxin gases polluting the atmosphere.
The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), under clause (e) of section 6(1) of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997, launched the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) for motor vehicle exhaust and noise in August 1993 with the approval of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council. Pakistan now looks forward to omitting the current vehicular emission standards and moving a step ahead towards the European Emission Standards to stand in line with other countries of the region moving towards Euro III and Euro IV. Pakistan is yet to employ these vehicular emission controls in order to create environment-friendly vehicles (cars mostly). In this regard, the Ministry of Petroleum with the help of the Ministry of Environment, is taking useful steps towards implementation for new gasoline-fuelled vehicles.
Previously, the major barrier in the way of the employment of these emission standards in Pakistan was the fuel availability. Now, the government has decided to apply the Euro Emission Standards in the country with effect from July, 2012. For this reason sessions were conducted by the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency with all stake-holders, comprising the Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Environment, oil companies and automobile producers. In these sessions, the quality of the fuel was seriously emphasised as a prime matter of concern. The focus was on the decrease of sulphur particles from diesel fuel to 500 ppm since the current amount of its inclusion in diesel is around 9000 ppm.
To operate in accordance with the standards of Euro II, the oil refineries are required to be up-graded. These refineries are already working to produce Euro II-compliant petrol and diesel. This process of up-gradation requires heavy investment. Automobile manufacturers need to produce vehicles complying with Euro II standards. Some are already manufacturing models complying with Euro II and Euro III standards. For instance, Pak Suzuki's Swift, Indus Motors' Toyota Altis and Honda Civic are local models based on Euro III standards.
According to information from the automobile industry, a number of models conform to the standards of Euro II while discussions are still in progress to free the imports of engines complying with the standards of Euro II and III from duties as the local vendors are not yet ready to meet the demand. Lead-free fuel moderately conforms to the standards of Euro II. In accordance with this strategy, the Government of Punjab has introduced CNG auto rickshaws.
The General Manager Commercial and Corporate Pakistan Refinery Limited, Aftab Hussain said that the government is taking steps towards complying with the Euro Emission Standards and that in this regard the specifications of Euro II are being fulfilled for petrol engines. However, for diesel engines, diesel hydro-treaters are to be installed to decrease the amount of sulphur particles from the diesel fuel.
As per the government's Euro II-compliant policy, catalytic converters are to be used that fulfil the requirements of Euro II standard fuel. Basically there are two types of engines. One is the EFI engine and the other is the carburetor engine. EFI stands for Electronic Fuel Injection. The EFI system enhances the performance of the engine and controls emission, besides working for better fuel economy. Most of the new Toyota models are equipped with the EFI system, with a built-in diagnosis system. The carburetor engine system can produce as much horsepower as an EFI engine. The only factor applied is tuning which makes the carburetor engine more efficient. The EFI system is more easily compatible with the catalytic converter than the carburetor engine. The entire conversion procedure cost would range from US $120 to $400. However, for carburetor engines, it would cost from US $500 to $2,000, which would consequently raise the prices of vehicles quite substantially.
The new measure taken by the Government of Pakistan to reduce the amount of pollutant particles from automobiles by implying the Euro Emission Standards ie Euro II, would have some major impacts. Since the main aim of the Euro Emission Standards is to decrease the amount of emissions from the fuel, it would definitely have a positive effect on the environment.
Euro II would help in enhancing the air quality with minimum presence of smoke, carbon monoxide and other hazardous gases in the atmosphere. Serious air pollution issues occur specifically in the urban areas, forming haze and smog in winter which leads to respiratory diseases as well as economic loss. By the introduction of Euro Emission Standards, these drawbacks would hopefully be reduced in the cities. The introduction of Euro II compliant standards would also help in reducing noise pollution.
Since the cost of conversion of the conventional engine systems to catalytic converter is quite high, it would increase the prices of Euro II-compliant vehicles. Therefore, while the introduction of Euro II standards would be advantageous for the environment, car buyers and vendors would be negatively impacted. For this reason, newer strategies need to be formulated by the government to provide duty/tax benefits to environment friendly vehicles.