[sustran] 1) Motorised 2 wheelers 2)Hong Kong

Gerry Hawkes ghawkes at sover.net
Mon Apr 13 20:11:45 JST 1998


It is my understanding that modern, high compression automobile
engines are indeed much more polluting than older, lower
compression auto engines.  From what I have read and observed, a
2-cycle (or 2-stroke) engine causes approximately 1,000 times the
air pollution as an automobile engine.  I think this is primarily
due to the use of lubricating oil in the gasoline mix.  I am not
certain how compression ratios affect the pollution output of
2-cycle engines, but one would think that higher compression
ratios would at least create more NOx.

Gerry Hawkes
Bike Track, Inc.
Woodstock, VT USA

www.biketrack.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Roberto Verzola <rverzola at phil.gn.apc.org>
To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
<sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Date: Monday, April 13, 1998 3:38 AM
Subject: [sustran] 1) Motorised 2 wheelers 2)Hong Kong


>
>Will somebody please clarify if it is true that two-cycle motor
bikes
>are of the low-compression type? Barry Commoner in The Closing
Circle
>made a distinction between low-compression engines and
>high-compression engines (as found in cars), and says that the
>pollution is much worse for high-compression engines (SOx, NOx,
lead,
>etc.) than for low-compression engines (water vapor, CO2,
unburnt
>fuel, etc.).
>
>Obviously, walking and biking are even less pollutive than
2-cycle
>motors, but are we or are we not justified in lumping together
2-cycle
>and 4/6-cycle engines?
>
>Obet Verzola
>



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