Vehicle emissions at choking point

Constable Phil Wilkinson gets closer than he'd like to the type of emissions that can cause a great deal of harm. Picture / John Borren

Mary Ngametua rushes to close the windows as trucks rumble up the rise outside her house. It's not the noise that gets to her - it's the toxic fumes belched out when the big rigs change gear.

"It starts with coughing," says Ngametua, 54. Then comes the wheeze. "It gives me a horrible night's sleep."

Ngametua, whose asthma has forced her to quit work, spends most days indoors at her Tripoli Rd, Panmure, home - not risking going outside to inhale the toxic exhaust from trucks, diesel-powered SUVs and cars.

The fumes have a similar effect to someone blowing smoke in her face. But though the Government has tightened the noose on smokers, it has failed to keep pace with most industrialised nations in combating vehicle pollution. When it comes to exhaust emissions, we have one of the dirtiest vehicle fleets around - and it's killing us.

Health authorities, environmentalists and regional councils charged with monitoring air quality saw Government plans to introduce emission testing next year as long overdue. Last week's surprise decision to shelve those plans has dismayed these groups - and it's a blow not just to asthmatics and greenies but the whole population.

Toxins such as carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbons and fine particulates are blamed for the premature deaths of 400 New Zealanders a year, including 250 Aucklanders. They exacerbate respiratory and heart conditions, lower resistance to colds and flu, cause countless lost working days and add to hospital admissions.

Traffic congestion hot-spots in Auckland regularly exceed safe guidelines - and it's getting worse with the popularity of diesel-fuelled SUVs and longer traffic jams (idling engines produce more noxious gases). Motorists in stalled traffic with the air-conditioning on are subjected to higher concentrations than pedestrians.

The toxins include cancer-causing compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. They are also greenhouse gases and, along with the carbon tax and new national air quality standards, a clampdown on smoky vehicles is part of our commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.

Associate Transport Minister Judith Tizard has defended the u-turn, saying a pilot testing programme produced wildly varying results and a reliable test would cost too much. But other countries have ushered in emission testing and cleaner air with relative ease over the past 20 years. In Europe and the United States, an array of equipment at testing stations and garages measures emissions.

New Zealand opted, in the case of petrol engines, to pilot the "simple idle test" used in Britain in which a gas analyser in the exhaust pipe measures emissions at low idle and at 2500 revs. Diesels were given snap acceleration tests, using an opacity meter, which records the cloudiness of the exhaust. The results were compared with simulated on-road performance, using a dynamometer.

Consultant Andrew Campbell, who managed the pilot study, says cars that produced high emissions at low idle proved fine in the on-road test and those that belched toxins in simulated driving passed at idle. "We could have been asking people to spend a lot of money on their vehicle which they didn't need to."

The 15 minutes required for the low- and high-idle test raised concerns that this would double the cost of a warrant of fitness. Campbell says the predicted extra cost of no more than $10 was looking more like $35.

As well, there were industry concerns about the $10,000-plus cost of each machine and the need to train hundreds of testers.

But the Government's decision, two months before a report on the trials is expected, has confused the vehicle testing and servicing industry and angered health and environmental agencies.

"The costs would have been more than offset by savings in the health budget and to the environment," says Dr Allen Liang of Asthma New Zealand. "It's a retrograde step. These tests are standard around the world. You have to ask why they don't want to do it."

Supporters of the decision say it stops us heading down the wrong path with an unreliable test that is being phased out overseas.

Critics say the Government seized on the trial results as an excuse to do nothing rather than impose an unpopular cost on motorists ahead of an election.

Some firms that took part in the pilot say the tests exposed the bad emitters. "Vehicles that were smoky on the open road were failing the test but those operating correctly on the road weren't," says a garage owner. "Cars puffing out black smoke shouldn't be on the road."

Those who ran the trials say the problem was not the equipment but the variables between off-road testing and on-road performance.

"Vehicles perform quite differently under all sorts of different driving conditions," says Stephen Elder of Auckland University's energy and fuels research unit. The British test may have been appropriate when it was introduced and may meet manufacturers' standards for Britain Elder says, but New Zealand's vehicle fleet is much more diverse.

Critics maintain that the limitations of idle-testing were already well-known, but the test would at least take the worst culprits off the road and encourage motorists to keep their vehicles tuned.

One diesel servicer who opted out of the pilot says it was poorly designed and set too high a threshold for reliability. "Most of the pollution affecting health occurs not in open road driving but while vehicles are idling in traffic jams - so a low-idle test is quite meaningful."

The Motor Industry Association, which represents new-car importers, has long pushed for emission testing, both at the border - to ensure imported used cars meet country-of-origin manufacturers' standards - and at warrant of fitness stage to ensure cars remain clean.

"This is a huge cop-out, and an admission that our vehicle fleet is so decrepit that a meaningful measurement of emission levels would be too difficult to administer," says chief executive Perry Kerr.

The association believes measures are needed to limit the age of the fleet, such as a seven-year age limit on imports. But a Niwa study in 2003 for the Auckland Regional Council found vehicle age less important than maintenance. ARC air quality manager Kevin Mahon says a new car can be as polluting as a 10-year-old dunger if not tuned properly.

Without testing, there's no guarantee that any vehicles entering the country will perform properly, Mahon says. And the trend to diesel SUVs and four-wheel-drives has ushered in a generation of owners unaware that diesels need more regular tuning than petrol vehicles.

The Niwa study found half the toxins entering the atmosphere were caused by 10 per cent of the vehicle fleet. And badly performing diesels were the worst contributors of fine particulates.

In October 2003, the Government committed to a three-pronged approach to reducing emissions: cleaner fuel, border controls - requiring vehicles entering the country to meet emission standards applying in the country of manufacture - and in-service testing at the warrant of fitness stage. Lower sulphur levels in diesel fuel come into effect on January 1 next year, but Mahon says that without emission tests the other two prongs are missing.

He says it's difficult to know whether the decision is justified in the absence of the final report on the trials and an accompanying social impact report. But, he adds, it's not news that the idle test has limitations and the ministry was advised to look at latest overseas practice before starting trials.

"It's not that the simple idle test was going to solve everything, It was supposed to be the start of a process to encourage regular maintenance and ensure the worst 10 per cent of the fleet is upgraded. This is not new stuff, it's not cutting-edge - everybody's been doing it."

Mahon says the backdown puts New Zealand further behind the rest of the world in tackling air quality. The Niwa roadside study in 2003 put Auckland's carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon levels well ahead of Los Angeles and London. "Looking at the inspection programmes in Europe, we are 25 years behind. We can't go back to square one and start another round of consultation."

He believes the setback will make it difficult for Auckland to meet national air quality standards that take effect on September 1 for carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, fine particulates and sulphur dioxide.

Particulates are the biggest concern - the fine dust particles linked to cancer churned out by badly performing diesels. The Government has set a standard of 50 parts a million over 24 hours for particulates, with one exception a year allowed. For the past decade, this limit has been exceeded several times a year in parts of Auckland.

Under the new law, councils must refuse new resource consents for activities that breach the limit. Just how this could be applied to the private vehicle fleet is not clear. But the onus is on councils to improve the fleet, which means "better vehicles coming in and cleaning-up the ones already here - and we have no process for doing that", Mahon says.

"If the Government doesn't deliver testing as a first step we cannot meet the national environmental standard in Auckland."

Councils are supposed to pave the way for even safer levels by 2013 which, Mahon says, will require a major reduction in particulate emissions.

"How many years are we going to put this off with all the adverse health effects - 250 premature deaths and three-quarters of a million person-days of restricted activity?

"If the test is flawed we need to move quickly in the right direction with advice from experts overseas. It's not too late to get a commitment in place by the end of next year."

Tizard says that's what the Government is trying for. "Our aim was to have on-road emission standards in place by the end of next year and we could still have a test by then."

The idle test was "probably the best technology at the time it was introduced" but the trials exposed the complexity of introducing reliable standards across an ageing fleet. And, she says, the accuracy of any test has to be defendable in court.

Meanwhile, Tizard has instructed the Ministry of Transport to look at other options, including a visual smoke test with warrant of fitness testing. Roadside remote sensing tests will be looked at and the police will be asked to step up enforcement of the 10-second smoke rule introduced in 2001 (and pigs will fly).

"We are trying to get a regime that's useful. We are improving fuel standards, we have moved to improve the vehicle fleet."

Tizard says the Government is confident it can "still meet air quality targets in the time we have given ourselves [by 2013] and we now have a group of ministers with a range of objectives around vehicle performance who've decided to work together".

* HIDDEN NASTIES

The main exhaust toxins and how they affect health.

Carbon monoxide

* Interferes with the blood's ability to absorb oxygen. Impairs co-ordination and attention; most worrying for people with respiratory and heart problems.

* About 330,000 tonnes a year emitted in Greater Auckland, 91 per cent from motor vehicles. Emissions increase in congestion when engines are idling.

* Guideline levels regularly breached at congested areas throughout Auckland.

Oxides of nitrogen

* Irritate the lungs, worsen asthma and lower resistance to colds and flu. Contribute to brown haze.

* About 37,000 tonnes emitted a year, 87 per cent from vehicles.

* 24-hour safe guidelines breached at peak traffic sites on about 30 days a year.

Hydrocarbons

* Volatile compounds, including cancer-causing benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Sulphur dioxide

* Irritates lungs, causing coughing, wheezing and breathlessness. Associated with increased hospital admissions.

* Levels have risen 10-fold in 10 years with rising number of diesel SUVs and 4WDs.

Fine particulates

* Seriously affect people with asthma and other respiratory diseases and heart and lung diseases. Include carcinogens. Create visible haze.

* About 6300 tonnes a year emitted in Auckland region. Diesel exhausts are main year-round source.

* Safe levels exceeded on two to seven days each year since 1998.

Detecting killers

* Low-idle test: gas analyser measures exhaust content of petrol engine at idle.
* High-idle test: emissions at 2500 revs analysed.
* Simple-idle test: both high- and low-idle emissions analysed.
* Snap acceleration test: for diesel vehicles, an opacity meter records cloudiness of exhaust under sudden acceleration.
* On-road test: vehicle put through "drive cycle" using dynamometer to simulate driving conditions.

Sources: ARC, Ministry for the Environment