Breathing Clean : Considering the Switch to Natural Gas Buses

Kojima, Masami

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ADVANCED VEHICLE;    AIR POLLUTION;    AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS;    AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT;    AIR RESOURCES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/0-8213-5040-4
RP-ID  :  WTP516

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In response to emerging epidemiologicalevidence of the toxicity of diesel vehicular emissions,there is growing interest in substituting conventionaldiesel with much cleaner natural gas in cities where ambientconcentrations of particulate matter are markedly higherthan what is internationally considered acceptable. Thispaper compares the performance of natural gas andconventional diesel buses, and outlines the barriers to theadoption of natural gas buses in developing countries. Inthe absence of emissions standards that effectively requirenatural gas, natural gas-fueled buses are unlikely to beadopted because they are more expensive to operate relativeto diesel buses. The social case for replacing diesel withnatural gas a fuel for buses rests on environmental grounds.If a local government decides that the reduction in airpollution associated with the substitution of conventionaldiesel with natural gas for use in buses is worth the cost,then it needs to adopt policies to encourage the switch tonatural gas. These might include emissions standards forbuses, or fuel and vehicle taxes that reflect marginalsocial costs. The contribution of exhaust emissions frombuses to the ambient concentrations of harmful pollutantsneeds to be quantified so that associated health damagecosts can be estimated.