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European Emisson Standards
//European emisson standarts// refer to a set of requieremnts defining the acceptable exauhst emisson level for new cars in EU member countries. These standarts are closely tied with Kyoto protocol signed by all EU members and became a result of a worldwide worries about [|greenhouse effect]. As the EU transport emisson counts for 3.5 % for the world CO2 emission and have rised rapidly in the last 14 years, reducing overall CO2 emmision would definately have to include cutting transport emissons.
 * Introduction**

European emission standarts have been defined in the [|European Union directives] starting from the year of 1992, when the first EURO 1 emission standart was introduced and went on through the 90s up to date progressively issuing increasinlgy strict standarts. Thus //EURO 2// was introduced in 1996, //EURO 3// - in 2000, //EURO 4// - in 2005 and //EURO 5// proposed in 2008. These new rules do not apply to the cars already in use. European emission standarts cover emissions of //oxides of nitrogen// ([|NOx]), //hydrocarbons// ([|HC]), //carbon monoxide// ([|CO]), and //particulate matter// ([|PM]), and are regulated for the most types of vehicles (exluding ships and aeroplanes). Starting from EURO 2 were introduced different emission limits for cars with diesel engine and for those with gasoline engine. Diesel cars have stricter CO limits but are allowed more NOx emission while gasoline cars are exempt from PM emissons starting from EURO 4.
 * Content**

As it was mentioned above emisson standarts are compliant with the most of vehicle types (passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, lorries and buses and large goods vehicles) with //different// standards applying to //each// type of vehicle. Compliance is determined by standardized [|test cycle]. As the passenger cars count for about half of overall trasnport related CO2 emission we will take a closer look on the emisson standarts for these kind of cars. As it has been mentioned above starting from EURO 2 (1996) different emission limits for disel and petrol engine cars have been enforced. Below is presented a table showing the limits for each type of exhaust both for gasoline and diesel fueled cars.
 * European emission standards for passenger cars**


 * European emission standards for [|passenger cars] (Category M1*), g/km** (source wikipedia.org)
 * ~ Tier ||~ Date ||~ [|CO] ||~ [|HC] ||~ [|NOx] ||~ HC+NOx ||~ [|PM] ||
 * **Diesel** ||
 * EM1 || January 1989 || 2.72 (3.16) || - || - || 0.97 (1.13) || 0.14 (0.18) ||
 * Euro 2, [|IDI] || January 1993 || 1.0 || - || - || 0.7 || 0.08 ||
 * Euro 2, [|DI] || January 1993 || 1.0 || - || - || 0.9 || 0.10 ||
 * Euro 3 || December 1997 || 0.64 || - || 0.50 || 0.56 || 0.05 ||
 * Euro 4 || January 2003 || 0.50 || - || 0.25 || 0.30 || 0.025 ||
 * Euro 5 (future) || September 2009 || 0.50 || - || 0.18 || 0.23 || 0.005 ||
 * Euro 6 (future) || September 2014 || 0.50 || - || 0.08 || 0.17 || 0.005 ||
 * **Petrol (Gasoline)** ||
 * EM1 || January 1989 || 2.72 (3.16) || - || - || 0.97 (1.13) || - ||
 * Euro 2 || January 1993 || 2.2 || - || - || 0.5 || - ||
 * Euro 3 || January 1997 || 2.30 || 0.20 || 0.15 || - || - ||
 * Euro 4 || January 2003 || 1.0 || 0.10 || 0.08 || - || - ||
 * Euro 5 (future) || September 2009 || 1.0 || 0.10 || 0.06 || - || 0.005 ||
 * Euro 6 (future) || September 2014 || 1.0 || 0.10 || 0.06 || - || 0.005 ||
 * * Before Euro 5, passenger vehicles > 2500 kg were type approved as [|light commercial vehicle] N1 - I
 * Applies only to vehicles with direct injection engines ||

As it can be seen from the table above the current EURO 4 and even the newly proposed EURO 5 standards are not the final point. It is planned to enforce //EURO// 6 standards by the year of 2014. If this takes place it would result in decrease by 67% of particulate matter emission and by 80% of nitrogen dioxide emission compared to EURO 5. In this case by 2015 the implementation of EURO 6 standards will lead to a reduction of 30% in the number of locations where the norm of NOx and CO2 in the air exceeded. Compared to other measures EURO 6 is the most cost effective way of improving local air quality. To improve the air quality on the larger scale, however EURO 6 is less cost effective than other measures.
 * The future of stricter emission standards**