Which is better environmentally, petrol or diesel?

Question

3 answers so far and thanks for nothing

Would like an answer to the question...not an opinion

Answer 1

Diesel is better environmentally. Although studies show that biodiesel is much safer than diesel, some of diesel's properties outweigh that of petrol.

The cost and energy required to manufacture diesel is much less than that of petrol in the refineries. The white fumes of petrol engine's exhaust are considered more harmful than the dark fumes of a diesel engine exhaust. Diesels can be considered pungent but the smell does not make an exhaust harmful or less greener. The real culprits are greenhouse gases like CO and CO2 which petrol engines emit more.

The efficiency of both petrol and diesel engines are about 35% and a similar combustion efficiency (they both emit about the same volume of exhaust per volume of fuel and air input) but a better mpg for a diesel engine means that less diesel will be used overall.

In the past few years the technological advances in diesel engines has been more significant than in petrol internal combustion engines thus making them more efficient and greener. This was one of the reasons why two stroke petrol engines were banned in some countries after four stroke engines came up. The petrol burnt in two-strokes was much more inefficient.

There is a lot of debate going on this, but as of now, these are some of the points which make diesel a more greener fuel. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

They both suck.

It's like trying to decide whether to drink a liter of mercury or a liter of cyanide.

Answer 3

neither of these is BETTER for the enviroment.try shanks pony

Answer 4

It comes down to whether or not you buy into the CO2 scam. With current technologies, diesel cars pollute more in passenger car applications than gasoline cars do. The gap will close soon, so that diesels can be marketed in larger numbers in the US. It really isn't that important a question though, as they don't come from the same grade of crude oil. As long as people are using them both in a variety of applications that approximate the ratio of availability, we'll be in fine shape.

Ted Kennedy calls himself an environmentalist, and he ordered diesel fuel to be dumped into Nantucket Sound, so I guess he must have thought it was good for the environment. Is that the sort of answer you were looking for?

Answer 5

diesel gets better mpg. but it pollutes more. petrol is less polluting but gets less mpg. in my opinion (although you don't want to hear it) electric is WAY better.

Answer 6

None.   Better encourage your public officials to subsidize public transportation ...or ride a bike.