Aug. 2, 2002
Air quality officials today approved a three-year project to develop a
non-polluting fuel cell to reduce toxic air pollution from idling diesel trucks.
"Diesel truck engines idle 20 percent to 40 percent of the time they run,
sometimes just to provide comfort for the driver," said Barry Wallerstein,
executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. "Across
the country, this idling consumes between 840 million and 2 billion gallons of
diesel fuel annually, emitting tons of cancer-causing and smog-forming
emissions."
AQMD’s Governing Board today approved a project to develop a fuel cell unit
to provide a zero- or low-emissions power source to a truck and cab when it is
not being driven on the road. Truckers today typically idle their engines for
several hours at a time while parked to power refrigerated trailers as well as
heating, air conditioning, televisions, computers and other conveniences inside
the cab. Running in idle mode, diesel engines are only 5 percent to 10 percent
efficient and emit significant amounts of toxic diesel particulates, sometimes
in close proximity to residences and businesses.
Fuel cell power units for trucks will be developed using hydrogen, propane
and diesel as a fuel source. Fuel cells use various hydrogen-containing fuels
and chemically convert them to electricity with little or no emissions.
The Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California,
Davis, will develop the fuel cells with $300,000 from AQMD and a total of
$900,000 from the university, California Air Resources Board, U.S. Department of
Energy, Carrier Transicold and the American Trucking Association.
In other action today, the Board:
- Amended Rule 1171 to advance the compliance schedule by 2½ years for
solvent cleaning operations where compliant products are readily available
in the market. More than 150 products are now certified by AQMD as Clean Air
Solvents. Of these, about 70 percent currently meet the low-emission limit
in the rule;
- Authorized contracts to perform technology assessments and demonstrations
of low-emitting cleaning solvents for lithographic printing operations. This
fulfills the Board’s direction to regularly assess the feasibility of future
emission limits for solvents regulated by Rule 1171; and
- Approved $270,000 in co-funding toward four research projects in the
areas of fuel cells, low-emission high-performance coatings, lower-polluting
automotive consumer products and quantification of health and economic
benefits from regional air quality improvements during the past two decades.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions
of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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