[Big Dave]

I suppose it all depends on which flavor of Kool-Aid you prefer. Those who prefer the EPA Kool-Aid will never believe anything else so are beyond reasoning with.

Foreign gasoline and diesel prices are tricky to use because local taxation varies a lot. However one thing is clear. In 2006, before ULSD in the US, gasoline and diesel cost about the same (with some regional and seasonal variations) within 25 cents a gallon at the most. In 2007, ULSD came along and within a couple of months, diesel in the US cost 80 cents to a dollar more per gallon. If that does not make you smell a rat then you have been snorting the EPA Kool-Aid as well as drinking it.

If it were truly a supply and demand thing the change would have been far more gradual. A sudden change indicates a single powerful cause. If the link in post #17 is credible, then demand in Germany – a place where diesels have always been popular – is dropping. I’m not buying the “supply-and-demand” myth a bit.

One thing for certain: Diesels built before Tier II (needs ULSD) are considerably more efficient than Tier II engines. My old school bus motor has zero emissions controls on it and no pickup diesel engine today can get close to it for MPG. You can take a International 6.4 or a Cummins 6.7 or the Tier II Duramax and put them in a truck of similar configuration to mine, drive it the same, and at best you get 21 MPG. Most guys are seeing 16 MPG – about what a gas F-150 gets. Tier II has wrecked diesel performance. If past is prologue, it will be twenty-five years for diesel performance to recover.

Post number 8 had a map showing nonattainment areas for PM 2.5 and the statement was made that these areas are at an “unhealthy” level. Who says they are “unhealthy?” The EPA? The EPA is not credible. These areas have been submitted to arbitrarily set ambient concentration levels. These levels have nothing to do with health – hospitalizations for respiratory problems today per 100,000 population are about the same as they were in 1970 when the EPA was established. The air quality is certainly better today than in 1970 and half as many people smoke as in 1970, but hospitalizations are about the same. The EPA’s statistical medicine does not add up. The air quality is better but there is no metric for any health benefit. The real dynamic here is that the EPA is fighting for its survival. Like many governmental organizations, it was established for a specific purpose, and like many governmental organizations it has been too effective at slaying its dragon. Air quality is the best it has been in living memory, but the EPA needs to keep coming up with new “health scares” to justify its existence. If it fails to do so, the EPA becomes like the Rural Electrification Agency or TVA – backwater agencies subject to sunsetting whenever congress ever feels the need to actually cut something.

I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with both oil companies and with the EPA and I find the oil companies to be a great deal more believable.

What will you guys do if the McGyan process and algal biodiesel work out? Would you prefer the US make biodiesel and export it rather than using it domestically? Your precious spark-ignition engines will not run on biodiesel.

In the scheme of getting better MPG the efficiency advantage of non-Tier II diesels over gasoline engines is so great that all the other stuff mentioned here (duct tape over air intakes, etc) looks like peanuts by comparison. For instance low-rolling resistance tires might gain you a 5% MPG improvement but a pre-Tier II diesel in the same vehicle gives you a 25-50% improvement in MPG. Post #11 and my experience bear that out. One does not throw away an advantageous technology without getting a substantial benefit, but that is precisely what ULSD and Tier II – both promulgated by the extremists at the EPA – have done.

In addition to the increase in fuel cost, and the reduction in engine efficiency the cost of added equipment makes Tier II diesels command a $12,000 premium over a gas engine in the same car. IF Honda, M-B, and VW import diesels in the near future, how much of a premium do you think these engines will fetch? I’d bet the M-B diesel will cost $20,000 more than the same car with a gas engine. The barrier filter on a Ford diesel pickup costs $4,500 (dealer’s price) alone. By comparison my old school bus motor cost me an extra $2,700. I think that pretty much kills fuel-efficient diesels in the US and condemns most people to driving inefficient gas pigs.

Go to blazes, EPA.