Posted on 12/14/2021 11:54:58 AM PST by absalom01
These small engines produce massive amounts of volatile organics and smog pollution, NOx,SOx ,particulates and ozone. Every other engine made has to have emissions controls to clean up the exhaust these have been allowed to run raw exhaust streams while running rich due to manual carburetor. Every other engine has to have fuel injection with ECU control and O2 sensor feedback for the catalysts to work in cleaning the exhaust gasses. The data is clear these engines are the largest source of federally regulated and mandated emissions in that state they have a federal obligation to get into compliance. So the choice going forward is build engines that don’t pollute in a massive scale using technology that has been used for 30+ years on larger engines or go to some other means of power via batteries or fuel cells both technologies can and do already power lawn tools. The choice is clear for gensets remove the carburetor that’s nearly 200 year old technology add-on fuel injection with O2 sensors just like every other engine produced and the typical three way catalysts that then remove 99.9% of NOx,VOC,HC,CO and organics
Manufacturers have avoid this because it was more profitable for them to just use raw exhaust and carbs while putting the cost of pollution in the general public. No more you want to run an engine you have to clean its exhaust to clean Air act levels of clean.
This is the actual text of the law no where in it does it ban SOREs outright it does state that technical.means must be used to clean them up.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1346
“adopt cost-effective and technologically feasible regulations to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small off-road engines.”
There already exists the technology to make these engines as clean or.
cleaner than cars.
https://www.ecotrons.com/small_engine_fuel_injection_kit/
Even the smallest Briggs and Stratton can be cleaned up.
“for about $25,000 you can get a hydrogen fuel cell generator that will give you about the same output as a $500-1000 gas powered generator.”
Or you could just swap out that dirty carburetor and raw open muffler with fuel injection and a three way catalyst. Would add a few hundred bucks to a $1000 dollar generator and make it clean Air act compliant. Which is almost assuredly the way the industry will meet the emissions compliance levels. The days of allowing raw exhaust to be dumped to the atmosphere in cities and neighborhoods is over it ended in the 1970 for cars, in the 1990s for diesels and finally technology is miniaturized enough that the raw exhaust era for small engines is over in the 2020s good for all people who want clean Air and not have smog,ozone and particulates spewed all over their neighborhoods. We don’t let cars run without exhaust catalysts why should society allow small engines that already produce more emissions than cars to continue that practice when the technology exists to clean them up. Look up in the thread there are already companies that will retrofit older equipment to make them clean. Once people stop hyperventilating over politics the data is clear these engines need to be cleaned up or replaced with ones that are clean Air compliant.
The solution is simple. Replace gasoline and diesel power generators with electric powered generators. /s
” new Ford Pickups come with a built in generator. Will that option be illegal in CA”
No why would they, that Ford truck already meets CARB and EPQ clean Air act compliant emissions via its use of modern fuel injection with three way catalysts that then remove down to CARB /EPA compliant emissions. That Ford is a thousand times cleaner per hour run than a 10kw generator. What this bill does is put small engines under the same emissions levels as cars and larger engines. There is plenty of technology to clean up the small engines to compliant levels. What this bill is doing is ending the era of raw exhaust from small engines, which ended in the 1970s for cars, 90s for diesels,and 2000 for larger off road engines. People just love to get in a tissy over politics they must have something to bitch about. The science is clear these engines are a scourge for clean Air. Politics has zero place in science and most scientists just ignore the political whining and go about the job or science. So the data is solid and has been so for decades the technology to clean these up is finally miniaturized enough to put on even the smallest 50D.C. Engine its time.for the era of raw exhaust to.end and it is. Asthmatics everywhere rejoice that Pablo can’t spew blue smoke all over their neighborhoods anymore. Nothing wrong with a clean running engine using three way cats you don’t even smell let alone see the exhaust it’s so clean.
I was pretty young, but we passed thru San Francisco when I was a young kid in 1964. I remember thinking it was a beautiful place. San Diego also seemed almost like a paradise. Things were weirder but still pretty nice in the 70s. By the 90s, like you, I wondered what had happened.
Now? I want a BORDER WALL - but I want it on the WEST side of Arizona!
Or businesses built around refurbishing existing gas powered equipment. You could end up having lawn mowers and generators where literally everything but the serial number tag is swapped out or rebuilt. Kind of like the infamous "Frankencars" of Cuba and the former Soviet Union.
I thought Calif shut off new nat gas connections?
So,when they cut the utility power you won’t have any backup power.🙄
Emission controls won’t satisfy this law because this isn’t about particulates or nitrous oxides.
This is about CO2 and climate change. No matter how clean your exhaust is by putting it through filters or catalytic converters, if you burn carbon you make carbon dioxide.
Until the outage lasts longer then your batteries.😳
No, wait, not all generators are banned!
You will still be able to get the plug-in, electric-powered generators!
....
California is an open-air insane asylum.
They do but like I said earlier batteries run down.
Exactly.
It’s an infection. What starts in California makes it’s way east and covers the nation in roughly 10 years.
I’m seeing California plates almost every day here in Jax, FL. Depressing sight. We’ve seemingly had a burst of migrants from Chicagoland, too, in addition to the traditional New Yorkers who are arriving in increasingly large waves.
You haven’t read the actual law I see. No where in the actual text of the law is COm even mentioned what is defined is NOx and VOCs
Take the time to read and comprehend what actually was signed into law not political hyperventilating that so many just can’t help themselves from. Go ahead do a text search CO2 nor global warming nor climate change is in the bill not a single word of it. But hey don’t let the actual law get in the way of a good tissy fit.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1346
Here is the sections on pollution.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Small off-road engines (SORE), which are used primarily in lawn and garden equipment, emit high levels of air pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen (NOx), reactive organic gases (ROG), and particulate matter (PM). NOx and ROG together contribute to formation of ozone, a criteria pollutant with a national ambient air quality standard set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and a California ambient air quality standard and that has adverse impacts on health. Currently, California exceeds U.S. EPA and state standards for ozone in many areas, including the South Coast Air Basin, the San Francisco Bay area, and the County of Sacramento. NOx also contributes to formation of PM, which, along with directly emitted PM, has direct negative health impacts. PM also has an air quality standard set by the U.S. EPA and the state. Many areas in California also currently fail to meet PM standards, including the South Coast Air Basin and the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin.
(2) In 2020, California daily NOx and ROG emissions from SORE were higher than emissions from light-duty passenger cars. SORE emitted an average of 16.8 tons per day of NOx and 125 tons per day of ROG. Without further regulatory action, those emission levels are expected to increase with increasing numbers of SORE in California. Regulations of emissions from SORE have not been as stringent as regulations of other engines, and one hour of operation of a commercial leaf blower can emit as much ROG plus NOx as driving 1,100 miles in a new passenger vehicle
They will implement either age limits or retrofit requirements for any engine built before a certain date or hefty fines. This approach is already used for diesels both on road and off road used in California. In addition there’s multiple companies that already retrofit small engines with fuel injection and catalysts making them as clean as cars with the same level of technology. California will simply say if you have a pre2022 SORE engine and it is not retrofitted than $1000 fine per incident per day. Send out a small ARMY of Gmen writing tickets to the lawn guys and compliance will happen fairly easy. Add in a confiscation clause where they impound the equipment until retrofitted this is done with diesels already. It’s not rocket science to clean up a lawn engine, a single ECU with an O2 sensor and throttle position sensor driven off a magneto holding the proper Air fuel ratio for the muffler mounted catalysts to light off and you solve the problems of NOx,CO,HC,ROGs and ozone which this law specifically addresses in the very text of the law.
If they had actually put CO2 into the law which they didn’t you could always use biofuels such as ethanol or butanol or synthetic biogasoline made from tree trimmings like the Norwegians are doing. all of which would have a zero or even negative carbon dioxide emissions level. There is no reason a modern fuel injected ECU controlled engine of any size with full closed loop O2 sensor feedback cannot be programmed to hold the proper Air fuel ratio for any liquid or gaseous fuel. Be it octane,ethanol,butanol,methanol,methane,hydrogen,propane,butane,DME,acetone,ketones,furians the list of combustible liquids with the necessary antiknock indexes is long. Even longer for low compression small engines which run at 7:1 or less vs 11:1 for vehicles. Point is once you move into the 21st century from the late 18th century by going to computer controls with injection vs carburetors the fuels you can use open up widely.
Not a tailgater, so I couldn’t say.
“I’m seeing California plates almost every day here in Jax, FL.”
I spent 2 years in Mayport, (Navy). I was very friendly with a local family, and they didn’t have much use for yankees. They excused me because I wasn’t the typical liberal, idiot yankee. I felt very at home there, family ties is what brought me back to Ohio.
Those miserable liberals move in, vote Dem and then condescend to the locals as if they are bringing something good to the backward idiots. I really do hate them.
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