We often grudgingly call them the gas guzzling monsters!!

But we can not do away with them alltogether.

Yes, I am talking about the heavy duty trucks. Road transportation is one of the most crucial part of any thriving economy and the most important component of road transport are the heavy duty trucks powered on diesel and contributing to a lion’s share of green house gases.

 

While you can not ban them off the road completely you can surely take measures to cut off their emissions and that is what the Environmental Protection Agency standards resolved  to do. In order to meet the EPA standard, the new truck models of 2007 are to be equipped with particulate matter filters that will result into a 90% cleaner vehicles with a significant cut on nitrogen oxide emissions than the previous generation models.

 

The cynicals have however doubted the efficacy of such an ambitious standard. But they were proved wrong when the The Diesel Technology Forum  announced just a few days ago that all major heavy-duty truck and engine manufacturers have conformed to this  new standard for emissions cuts and received the certificate from the EPA for full production.

 

With the EPA certification now being mandatory, truck manufacturers will be able to produce cleanest diesel engines so far and that marks a milestone in the achievement for a cleaner environment. As the new trucks following EPA standard are replaced with their previous generation gas-guzzlers the total emissions of smog-forming gases are expected to be reduced by 2.6 million tons each year. In addition to that  soot emissions will also be scaled down to 110,000 tons annually.

 

Let’s check with the manufacturers that have passed the most rigorous standardization criteria; the names of EPA certified manufacturers include Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel Corp., International, Mack and Volvo. This certification implies that all these above mentioned manufacturers  abide by all the EPA stipulated emission standards regarded as the most stringent in the whole world.

 

To be doubly assured check out what Allen Schaeffer, the Diesel Technology Forum executive director has to say: “America’s long-haul truckers can be confident in the reliability and durability of these engines,” …The technology on these trucks has been engineered through millions of miles of testing, which has shown the performance, fuel economy and durability required to not only meet but exceed customer expectations.”

 

So next time you roam around  in the super market looking for the new arrivals in the shelves, you can rest assured that all the goods have been transported along the green route. However, experts are of the opinion that the benefits of EPA standard can not be optimized unless the government adopts some incentive based initiatives to slowly banish the old models from the road.