The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $5.6 million for emerging technologies projects as part of a summer-long roll out of $120 million in clean diesel grants.
The awards will provide opportunities to advance cutting-edge technologies in the marketplace, and support both environmental innovation and green jobs to reduce diesel emissions. Diesel pollution is linked to thousands of premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and millions of lost work days, EPA said.
Most clean diesel grants involve widely used strategies such as retrofits or replacements. However, the emerging technologies program promotes deployment of innovative approaches that have not yet been verified or certified by EPA or the California Air Resources Board. Instead, the program enables evaluation of these promising technologies in the field while providing air quality benefits to the surrounding area. Diesel engines emit approximately 7.3 million tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 333,000 tons of soot annually.
Recipients of the emerging technologies grants are:
- City of Los Angeles Harbor Department for $731,000 for a hybrid crane with a small diesel generator combined with a battery to be used at ports.
- California Air Resources Board for nearly $1.2 million for a NOx reducing device for locomotive engines.
- University of Houston for $1 million for NOx reducing technologies installed on school buses.
- Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for nearly $1.2 million to use a seawater scrubber, which removes pollution from large ship engines.
- South Coast Air Quality Management District for $1.5 million for an exhaust capturing mechanism used on a variety of ships while at port.
Throughout this summer, EPA is awarding a total of $120 million under the diesel emissions reduction program (often known as DERA) to help lower exhaust from the existing fleet of 11 million diesel engines in communities nationwide. Grants included under DERA, in addition to the emerging technologies grants, are:
- SmartWay Finance Program grants
- National Funding Assistance Program grants
- Direct grants to all states for clean diesel programs
- First-ever clean diesel tribal grants
EPA’s new heavy-duty highway and non-road diesel engine standards taking effect over the next decade will significantly reduce emissions from new engines. However, these standards apply only to engines manufactured in the year 2007 and beyond. The 11 million diesel engines in use today will continue to pollute unless emissions are controlled with technology and/or cleaner fuels. EPA’s National Clean Diesel Campaign and the SmartWay Partnership assist fleets with controlling diesel emissions through financial and technical assistance.
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