Environmental Benefits
Greenhouse Gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO²)
Autogas vehicles emit less of this pollution than petrol cars. The average reduction in tailpipe emissions is around 10% however because LPG is a bi-product of extraction and refining it is recognised that there are significant CO² savings in production. Typically in addition to the WTT (Well To Tank) values of LPG result in 29% lower Greenhouse Gas emissions than diesel and 23% lower gasoline during its delivery chain.
Exhaust pollution of regulated noxious emissions:
LPG offers substantial improvements on exhaust pollution compared with even the cleanest of diesels where particulates (PM10 and PM25) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) are still a real problem. This should be considered a prime issue since it has been estimated that over 24,000 people die prematurely in the UK each year as a result of this pollution. LPG delivers up to 80% lower NOx emissions.
Non-regulated emissions:
The environmental advantages of Autogas over conventional and other alternative fuels are even greater with respect to unregulated emissions, including air toxins such as benzene, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde and butadiene, where tests can measure a reduction of up to 90%. LPG delivers zero particulate emissions.
Other environmental benefits:
In the event of a fuel spill, autogas quickly dissipates into the air. Thus, in contrast to petrol and diesel, there is never a risk of ground or water contamination.
Lower noise levels from autogas compared with diesel powered vehicles provides another significant environmental advantage. This is especially important for night-time deliveries or waste collection in cities.
The future of LPG
The 150,000 LPG vehicles currently driving on Britain’s roads represent a saving of around 150,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum (tailpipe only) compared with petrol and substantial local air quality benefits compared with diesel. It is of the utmost importance that efforts are made to make cars as environmentally friendly as possible. Much hope must rest with future technology in the form of electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars, although large scale disposal of batteries and industrial production of hydrogen raises its own environmental issues. In addition, it will require massive leaps in technology to have everything in place to sustain such fuelling methods. At BRC we firmly believe that LPG and CNG vehicles have their place alongside other technologies of the future.
