Petrol vs Diesel: Who’s to Blame for Polluting Your City?

Diesel cars have been banned but they aren’t the only ones polluting your city.

Being a diesel car owner in Delhi can be stressful. (Photo: iStockphoto/altered by The Quint)

Supreme Court has banned the registration of diesel vehicles in Delhi starting from 1 January 2016 till 31 March 2016.

The decision has been facing flak from social media, though some have welcomed it saying that it will help curb rising levels of pollution in the city.

But is diesel really the bad guy we are making it out to be, in comparison to petrol?

Where Do Petrol and Diesel Come From?

Diesel and petrol are obtained during various stages of ‘refining’ of crude oil. Refinement involves heating crude oil and turning the vapours produced at different temperatures into liquid. At various stages of the process, we get fuels like petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG to name a few. This is what oil refineries do.

Which is More Powerful?

Diesel produces more energy per unit as compared to petrol, when used in vehicles (internal combustion engines) and also gives a better mileage range.

How Are They Harming the Environment?

Petrol-run cars mainly emit the pollutant carbon monoxide (CO) which combines with oxygen present in the air and turns into carbon dioxide (CO2). This is a greenhouse gas and contributes towards global warming.

Diesel-run cars emit high levels of nitrogen and sulphur. These pollutants combine with oxygen and turn into sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which are again major pollutants.

Why Do We Have Diesel Engines in the First Place?

Older diesel vehicles (with the then prevalent technology) used to pollute significantly more compared to petrol vehicles and hence most cars used worldwide switched to petrol.

This in turn escalated the problem of global warming and the world felt the need for an alternative. A lot of research and development went into diesel vehicles and after these engines came equipped in such a way that they released less pollutants, thanks to better technology, people started preferring them over petrol cars.

Our present lifestyle has made sure that the number of cars on the roads of any major city have increased exponentially, compared to a few decades ago and the alarming levels of pollution have left governments across the world clamouring to find solutions.

That’s Bad....What Now?

The end game is not that easy to achieve, it needs to be tackled collectively, both at the national and international level.

There are alternative fuel sources that cars can run like Ethanol and electricity, perhaps it’s time to move on form petrol and diesel?

Let us know what you think in the comment section below.