There are a number of commonly asked questions. Some answers are provided. We welcome your feedback and further questions.

1. What is the greenhouse effect?
2. How does NOx effect me?
3. How do particulate emissions effect me?
4. What is acid rain?
5. What is CRT?
6. What is SCRT?
7. What is Adblue?

The greenhouse effect is the warming of the Earth's atmosphere due to the accumulation of heat trapping gases and vapors.

These gases etc. trap the heat of the sun both as it shines into the atmosphere and reflects and radiates from the Earth's surface of land and water. They act like the trapped air of a glass built greenhouse that stores the sun's energy, warming the space.

Gases and va pours include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (NO), chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), tetrafluoromethane (CF4), s (CHClF2) and water (H2O). The gas of primary interest to legislators is carbon dioxide due to the rapid increase in the consumption of fossil fuels.

In the combustion of hydrocarbons such as diesel and gasoline the only theoretical products are carbon dioxide, water and heat. Every liter of diesel should produce 2.8 kg of carbon dioxide and gasoline 2.3 kg. In practice these numbers vary according to the engine, fuel formulation etc.

Transportation is believed to contribute 20% of all the greenhouse emissions today. This may equate to as much as 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

The above carbon dioxide emissions are created from fossil fuels (in this case oil). The carbon emitted from combustion of fossil fuels was last free in the Earth's atmosphere as carbon dioxide millions of years ago. In those millions of years the atmosphere has maintained a balance without that carbon. Releasing it today creates an imbalance and this is why we have the greenhouse effect.

There are fuels that can be termed 'carbon neutral'. These are made from plant material that was only recently living. That means the carbon was atmospheric only months or a few years before re-release into the atmosphere. The most common of these bio-fuels are FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) bio-diesel and ethanol (an alcohol) which is often blended into mineral gasoline.

We have mainly looked at transport fuels here. In industry (esp. power generation) coal is the most commonly used fuel. Such solid fuels contribute to these effects also. The alternative to these fuels include 'bio-mass' such as wood, elephant grass and other plant matters.