Raquel Diaz

ELI Program
Session 1
October 26

THE USE OF DIESEL OVER THE USE OF GASOLINE IN EUROPE

Diesel and gasoline are fuels derived from petroleum.

The oil is mainly used as heating fuel and diesel or gasoline engine is
used as fuel in internal combustion engines, as well as stoves, lamps,
cleaning solvents and other applications.
Diesel and gasoline engines convert chemical energy of fuel into the
mechanical energy through a series of explosions.
The way these explosions happen is the main differences between
these two engines.
The gasoline was discovered in 1857 in Germany and in 1989
Volkswagen (German car Brand) presented Audi 100 model with the
first diesel engine, with increased performance in Germany too.
In two years, the other European brands mimicked that engine.
Europe is the only world market where diesel exceeds 50% of
passenger

car

registration

and

it

has

advantages

about

the

performances but it has disadvantages about the environment impact

and the prices.

The diesel engine emits less greenhouse gases than gasoline and
gasoline engine emits less nitrogen oxides than diesel.
For example in the nineties, Europe set limits on carbon monoxide
and carbon dioxide (CO and CO2) responsible of global warming.
While EEUU, set limits on nitrogen oxides (NOx), one of the precursors
of acid rain.
The diesel and gasoline emissions suppose risks to the health. The
short-term effects are usually temporary, as long as exposure to
emissions from diesel engines is not constant. However, long term,
can cause serious health complications and may even lead to death.
(Cames & Helmers, 2013)
Health problems generated include cancer, lung diseases, headaches,
heart disease, asthma, liver damage and immune system problems.
A 2012 study of the World Health Organization (WHO) found an
increased risk of lung cancer among people who are routinely
exposed to diesel. (Silverman et al., 2012)
In 2015 the German brand Volkswagen, one of the most important in
the world, has recognized that they developed a software to simulate
that the diesel engines were cleaner and overcome the approval tests
of their vehicles. (Schmidt, 2016)
This was a real scandal in Europe.

As the engine performance is concerned it is important to know that it

means the relationship between the energy obtained by burning fuel
and energy we get from the engine.
Diesel fuel has a higher energy density, we are able to get more
energy per liter of fuel, this means lower consumption.
Gasoline has an energy density of 20% less than diesel and a liter of
gasoline provides about 10% less energy than diesel. (Li, Yang, An, &
Chou, 2015)
The gasoline engine is very simple, so is cheaper than diesel engine.
Diesel fuel is generally simpler to refine from petroleum than gasoline
fuel.
Its maintenance engine is more expensive than gasoline engine.
The components in diesel engines have to be much harder compared
to gasoline because they have to support higher temperatures and
higher pressure.
In addition, due to recent changes in fuel quality regulations, refiners
are required to reduce the content of sulfur components, which helps
increase the production cost of diesel. (Gilmore & Lave, 2013)
Currently fuels are fairly balanced in spite of the constant fluctuations
in prices there.
Meanwhile, differences prices of petroleum products depend on the
demands of each.
If gasoline demand is higher than diesel, it left over diesel in refineries
and its price will low. If diesel demand increase it will rise to the price

of gasoline, a situation that happens more frequently in winter

because the heaters use diesel. (Allcott & Wozny, 2014)

Finally, we can deduce diesel fuel is worst than gasoline fuel because
it is more polluting and more expensive despite its high performance.
The use of diesel is increasing the concentration of CO2 in the
atmosphere. And Europe wants to remove all the diesel engines for
2020 for this reason because we need to reduce the CO2 emissions to
avoid global warming.
REFERENCES
Allcott, H., & Wozny, N. (2014). Gasoline Prices, Fuel Economy, and
the Energy Paradox. The Review of Economics and Statistics,
96(5), 779795. doi:10.1162/REST_a_00419
Cames, M., & Helmers, E. (2013). Critical evaluation of the European
diesel car boom - global comparison, environmental effects and
various national strategies. Environmental Sciences Europe,
25(1), 15. doi:10.1186/2190-4715-25-15
Gilmore, E. A., & Lave, L. B. (2013). Comparing resale prices and total
cost of ownership for gasoline, hybrid and diesel passenger cars
and trucks. Transport Policy, 27, 200208.
doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.12.007
Li, J., Yang, W. M., An, H., & Chou, S. K. (2015). Modeling on blend
gasoline/diesel fuel combustion in a direct injection diesel engine.
Applied Energy, 160, 777783.

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.08.105
Schmidt, C. W. (2016). Beyond a one-time scandal: Europe???s
ongoing diesel pollution problem. Environmental Health
Perspectives. doi:10.1289/ehp.124-A19
Silverman, D. T., Samanic, C. M., Lubin, J. H., Blair, A. E., Stewart, P. A.,
Vermeulen, R., Attfield, M. D. (2012). The diesel exhaust in
miners study: A nested case-control study of lung cancer and
diesel exhaust. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 104(11),
855868. doi:10.1093/jnci/djs034