Harmful effects of vehicle emissions

Speaking of vehicle emissions...
Experts have identified diesel cars as being partly responsible for the increasingly worsening air quality and increasing level of fine dust in this country.
Korea has been turning to eco-friendly vehicles... rolling out various benefits for those who drive these green cars.
Our Lee Unshin takes a closer look.
An auto industry report last year shows cars with diesel engines are more popular among Koreans than cars with gasoline engines.
Better fuel economy and stronger horse power drive their popularity.
But studies show in addition to fine dust, diesel engines boost the level of ozone... especially during the summer.

Under the season's intense heat and sunlight...The nitrogen oxide in the car emissions breaks down into atoms through a photochemical reaction.
The oxygen atom combines with the molecular oxygen in the air, creating ozone.

Ozone at the ground-level presents intractable air quality and health problems along with fine dust.



Breathing ground-level ozone can be extremely damaging to one's skin, eyes, and respiratory system.
According to the 2006 guidelines of the World Health Organization, when the ozone level is above 90ppb at ground-level, it even increases the mortality rate by one-to-two percent.

The Korean government tried to resolve these problems by proposing new measures, such as enforcing more strict emissions tests on diesel cars.
But even with filters that meet the new emmissions standards, experts say the detrimental effects to the atmosphere caused by these vehicles is inevitable.

Which is why Korea's trying to expand environment-friendly transportation such as CNS buses, and supplies for electric and hydrogen cars, to tackle the fundamental problem.

To promote the sale of eco-friendly vehicles, the government announced new plans, including offering discounts on parking and tollgate fees, as well as adding twenty more hydrogen filling stations through out the country by 2020.



When it comes to Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the most well-known benefit is that they're pollutant free.
The only thing that these cars produce is water, and the water is clean enough to drink."


With the administration's support and a greater environmentally conscious mindset among Koreans... eco-friendly vehicles may one day crowd roads in Korea.

Lee Un-shin, Arirang News

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