California to start checking OBDII cars for tunes

[JSH]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Everyone else was just able to do it better, faster, more efficiently, with less money and without creating a clearly failed bureaucracy.
That's why they; California still owns the top 7 spots for worst in the country. 20 years ago I think they had the top 8 spots, so I guess that's something, not much, but good job any way (not really).

I wonder if that has something to do with winds from the west and a large mountain range to the East to trap pollution. Not every city can be Houston, Miami, NYC, Chicago, etc and just let their pollution blow away.

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

In the end it seems to be more about revenue than effectively decreasing emissions on souped-up engines, as it may not be impossible to keep emissions within the limits even resorting to parts which may not hold an EPA certification.

How does California checking OBDII codes increase state revenue?

[oil pan 4]

Yeah now it's to the point where if every car was miracled to full electric tomorrow and California had the electricity to charge them from a source that makes no NOx, they would still occupy at least the top 6 spots for worst air pollution in the nation.

Originally Posted by JSH

I wonder if that has something to do with winds from the west and a large mountain range to the East to trap pollution. Not every city can be Houston, Miami, NYC, Chicago, etc and just let their pollution blow away.

Almost like they could have spent the last 50 plus years working that into the plan, but they didn't and are hopelessly stuck locking down those last place spots probably forever.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Almost like they could have spent the last 50 plus years working that into the plan, but they didn't and are hopelessly stuck locking down those last place spots probably forever.

Should they have spent the last 50 years trying to change the direction of the prevailing winds or moving the Rocky Mountains?

Seems more productive to me to try to reduce the amount of air pollutions than to change the basic geography of their state. (Which is what they have been doing)

[freebeard]

I wonder if that has something to do with winds from the west and a large mountain range to the East to trap pollution.

Has to do with inversion layering. Quoth DDG:

Los Angeles Air Quality Index (AQI) and California Air ...
https://www.iqair.com/us/usa/california/los-angeles
This type of temperature inversion is called a marine inversion. The Los Angeles marine inversion can often be attributed to the layer of haze shrouding downtown buildings in pictures from the famous Hollywood sign. How to reduce air pollution in Los Angeles?

10: Weather. Inversion layers
10: Weather. Inversion layers
Inversion Layers . In a typical situation, the atmosphere (with regard to the troposphere) becomes cooler as elevation increases. An "inversion" occurs when a section of the atmosphere becomes warmer as the elevation increases. Inversion layers are a significant factor in the formation of smog in Los Angeles because they create stable atmospheric conditions.

It's set way down in the hole.

[Hersbird]

We have an inversion layer here in Missoula Montana as well. Growing up we were stage 1 or stage 2 almost every day in the winter. Ironically that came from the oil embargo from the 70's. Limit furnace oil and go figure, people just put in a woodstove and go get the massive amounts of free firewood that surrounds us. Then they switched to inexpensive electric baseboard heating in most houses in the 80's as they outlawed wood stoves. Now of course electricity is not inexpensive (it used to easily beat natural gas at a cost per BTU of heat produced). New construction for the last 20 years almost always uses natural gas heating. Now nobody cuts the dead standing firewood and sooner or later it all burns in the summer instead, again causing stage 1 and 2 air alerts.

[redpoint5]

I can guarantee we'd have gathered up all the fallen debris from the ice storm earlier this year had we still been using fireplaces for heat. Now that heat pumps and NG are so cheap, I can't be bothered to gather wood for anything other than camping.

I'm always wondering why there are signs around campsites saying not to gather the wood... then later in the summer we get signs saying no campfires due to the fire danger. Seems the fire problem has an easy remedy.

If natural fires aren't allowed to periodically clear the debris, there must be an artificial method or it will become a disaster.

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I can guarantee we'd have gathered up all the fallen debris from the ice storm earlier this year had we still been using fireplaces for heat. Now that heat pumps and NG are so cheap, I can't be bothered to gather wood for anything other than camping.

I'm always wondering why there are signs around campsites saying not to gather the wood... then later in the summer we get signs saying no campfires due to the fire danger. Seems the fire problem has an easy remedy.

If natural fires aren't allowed to periodically clear the debris, there must be an artificial method or it will become a disaster.

Sir, how dare you use logic!! We must find someone to blame for all of our problems!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Sure a controlled burn of wood debris make much more sense. On a sidenote, maybe trying a wood gasifier in a place where wood stoves are outlawed could be an interesting approach, as long as there is some way to also use the ashes and the tar leftovers.

Originally Posted by JSH

How does California checking OBDII codes increase state revenue?

Through the higher price tags, presumably the taxation would also increase.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

maybe trying a wood gasifier in a place where wood stoves are outlawed could be an interesting approach, as long as there is some way to also use the ashes and the tar leftovers.

I don't know of any place that outlaws wood stoves. That said, many campsites in the past few years ban campfires right about now. There's no point in camping without a campfire. We're just supposed to sit in the dark and cold around bluish LEDs? Camp Fires Matter.

[Piotrsko]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I don't know of any place that outlaws wood stoves.

Reno has bans on using them, only low level days along with chimney nazis. (Hmmm: water and electricity nazis too. A trend?) Can't buy one new, and I cant have one in my house when I sell it, but the original fireplace is OK, however, it won't work because the stove installers usually cut out the damper. Might be in places in a valley