[sustran] fwd: Tokyo diesel pollution woes

[SUSTRAN Resource Centre]

I believe that Tokyo now has rather clean air by Asian standards. But they
are still worried about the diesel.  Paul.
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The Star newspaper, features section
Tuesday, April 25, 2000

Environment 

Cheap diesel or clean air?
By Jacqueline Ann Surin 

LIKE most major cities in the world, Tokyo's main source of air pollution
is vehicular emissions. 

A total of 650,000 cars are registered with the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government and out of this, 250,000 enter the city each day. 

"All private and public transportation systems converge in the centre of
Tokyo. This is one of the major reasons for the severe air pollution we
face," says Masahiko Kuroda, an officer with the metropolitan's Bureau of
Environmental Protection. 

"Diesel trucks and buses contribute a great deal to this pollution," he adds. 

Statistics show that diesel-powered vehicles account for only 20% of the
total distance travelled by all vehicles, but their engines are responsible
for about 70% of the nitrogen oxide and almost 100% of suspended
particulate matter (SPM) emitted. 

In the past 10 years, the metropolitan has achieved little success in
reducing the levels of nitrogen oxide and SPM, two of the eight parameters
used to measure air quality. (The other six parameters are sulphur dioxide,
carbon monoxide, photochemical oxidant, benzene, tricholoroethylene and
tetrachloroethylene.) 

The worsening air quality and increasing public health standards are what
prompted Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara to launch a campaign against
diesel vehicles last August. The three-month campaign dubbed Say No! to
Diesel Vehicles was to raise awareness about the damage diesel vehicles do
to the environment. 

In an interview with the Metropolitan Government's bulletin, Ishihara
showed that a 10-tonne diesel truck emitted one gram of black smoke (which
contains SPM) after travelling just 1km at an average speed of 20kph. 

"Given the total traffic volume of diesel-powered vehicles in Tokyo, as
much as 12 tonnes of black smoke particles are estimated to be emitted into
Tokyo every day. This amount is enough to fill as many as 120,000 small
plastic (mineral water) bottles," the Governor was quoted as saying. 

Despite the Governor's strong position on diesel emission pollution, much
still needs to be done to reduce the number of diesel vehicles on the road. 

"Diesel is cheaper than gasoline (petrol) because of the taxes imposed on
the latter. We have to convince the national government to reduce the taxes
on gasoline to encourage more people to make the switch," Kuroda explains. 

He adds that diesel engines are technologically superior, suffer less
breakdowns and are more powerful. "As a result, all large-sized vehicles
use diesel engines." 

Kuroda stresses that the Metropolitan Government is not denying the
viability of diesel engines but is saying "No" to their present form. "If
automobile makers can modify the engines to improve its vehicular
emissions, then diesel engines can make a comeback," he says. 

The battle to clean up the air in Tokyo is still an uphill task but with
strong leadership from Ishihara, Kuroda is hopeful that the task will be
possible. 

The Governor pointed out in his interview with the bulletin that the
population in the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan area totalled 33 million--one
third of Japan's overall population. 

"As governor of Japan's capital, I cannot tolerate the current state of
Tokyo's air pollution," he said when asked what he would do if the
automobile and related industries opposed his proposed regulations on
diesel-powered vehicles. 


Copyright © 1995-2000. Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. (Co No. 10894-D)
All rights reserved. 
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Distributed for the purpose of education and research.

A. Rahman Paul BARTER
SUSTRAN Resource Centre
P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia.
E-mail: sustran at po.jaring.my

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