Daewoo Bus - 2ed

DAEWOO BUS M A G A Z I N E

SPECIAL EDITION – EARTH DAY 2014

Earth Day Commemoration

A C A D E M Y

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Increase of the Collective Transport Fleet to Improve Air Quality and Reduce Carbon

Footprint lthough it is not unusual to think that pollution is due to industry and buses in Costa Rica, the reality is that it could be fulfilled in just a few selected points of some of our cities, and on specific moments. In the national reality, the hopes of decreasing air pollution and greenhouse gases emission is rather in increasing public transport than decreasing it. In the national energy matrix, petroleum-based fuels in 2010 represented 57% of the total, with transportation consuming nearly 80% of it (DSE, energy balance, 2012). It is no wonder that the transport is also the largest national air pollutant, with an estimated total of at least 56% of the GAM emissions (Herrera, this magazine, June 2014) and 70% of total national emissions of CO2 in 2009 (IMN, Inventory, 2009). A similar event occurs as well at the global level. Of the pollutants' emission criterion generated in the GAM for the transport, 73 % originates in vehicles to gasoline (Herrera, idem), which mostly are of private personal use. According to the latest national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions (IMN, Inventory, 2009), in 2005 69% of emissions were due to the transport, 18% to the industry, 4% to the thermal generation, and the rest to a variety of other activities. Of the total emissions, 33% (almost half of the emission of transport) was due to cars, 5% to motorcycles, and only 6% were due to buses and minibuses of collective transport (4% + 2%). Note that the emissions of automobiles and motorcycles (38%) amounted to more than 6 times those of minibuses and buses, and 7 times the emissions of the thermal generation. On the other hand, according to Herrera (this magazine, June 2014), only the renovation or replacement units of public transportation (taxis and buses) of more than 10 years, would reduce the emissions of the main pollutants of the public transport to the half. In the greenhouse gas inventory of 2009, emissions of public transport accounted for 9% of the total (IMN, Inventory, 2009), so the above-mentioned renovation could have reduced that participation to less than 5%. It is simple to reason, then, that to duplicate the fleet of public transport through new units could at most double the participation of the public transport in emissions, and carry it up to less than 10% of

the total. If this were to decrease the participation of cars and motorcycles by half, the net reduction of total emissions could be close to 14%. This figure is close to thrice the amount produced by heating. Seeing the figures given, it is obvious the strategic importance of the public transport for the approach of the environmental problems in Costa Rica. But there are also economic components that I don't analyze although they are of enormous relevance, of which one is the reduction of the oil bill, which is now around the annual $2 billion. Any fraction of this amount is a fortune, but 10% would be easily attainable with above-mentioned reduction. Finally, the carbon neutrality, which Costa Rica has accomplished 89% so far, can actually be achieved by the changes stated here. Is it realistic to reduce car usage by half? According to INECO (National Plan of Transports of Costa Rica 2011-2035) more than 75% of the population is transported to work in the GAM use collective transport. The issue is that we Costa Ricans are clear that we would use private transport unless it is impossible or highly inconvenient. This answer is a response to the efficiency in the transport system. In order for public transport to attract the population that currently prefers private transport, it has to offer substantial improvements. In other words, responding to the population’s requirements and expectations which include a comfortable

schedule, reliability, sufficient variety of routes and the duration of the routes, walking distance to bus stops, the cost of the passage, and the quality, the condition and appearance of the units. For many car users, the thought process often goes as such: “If I can’t arrive safe and on time to work by bus, I simply will avoid using collective transport and use my car. If the duration of the journey increases by more than 30 minutes, I will use my car. I there are no bus stops near my house or workplace, I will use my car. If my perception of the quality of the service is low, I will keep on using my car.” Sadly, far too many drivers follow this train of thought. It is clear that in order to improve some of the aforementioned issues, there is no other way than to renew the public transport fleet. It is also essential to increase it in order to meet the demand with the expected quality of service. It is then clear that it would be necessary to reduce the number of personal vehicles circulating on the streets on a daily basis. Otherwise, they would only cause traffic jams and collapse the city’s roads. We can then ask ourselves, what would have to happen first? The migration from car to public transport, or the improvement of the supply of public transportation? The decision of many to leave the car at home and confront a situation that not only is wrong, but abusive may even be harmful is quite unlikely. The decision of few, to do the same to improve and increase the service of public transport, resides in less actors, who also know that this is what is best for the country. Will this decision be closer in times of change as these?More buses and less pollution!

References

Plan Nacional de Transportes de Costa Rica 2011-2035; INECO/MOPT, 2011.

Emisiones de contaminantes del aire generadas por fuentes móviles en Costa Rica, Jorge Herrera Murillo, esta revista, junio 2014.

Balance Energético Nacional 2010, Arturo Molina Soto, Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones /Dirección Sectorial de Energía, 2012.

Inventario nacional de emisión de gases con efecto invernadero y de absorción de carbono en Costa Rica en el 2000 y 2005, Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones /Instituto Meteorológico Nacional, 2009.

Dr. Jaime Quesada-KimzeyCEQIATEC Coordinator, Teacher and researcher. School of Chemistry—TEC

The articles here written are transcripts of intellectual property and free opinion of the authors- important businessmen of the stipendiary public transport, and under their

authorization and responsability; are published here by as courtesy of DWBCR and its total or partial contents do not consitute review or criteria of this company on these topics .

I N D U S T R Y

Diesel Injectors and the Environment

Ing. Fabio Roldán C.

Interplaza Car Service

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P resently, we cannot conceive the existence of operation practices that are a hindrance to the environment or against the quality of life of users or operators of any production system. Therefore, public transport has been under surveillance of state organizations and NGOs. The environmental controls are increasingly demanding and encourage us to understand the nature of the equipment that we use as means of production. The use of Diesel as a main source of fuel in our operations of transport fleets makes us understand the following aspects:

Diesel fuel is an essential input, by which Regulations of the Costa Rican State, has substantially reduced the percentage of sulphur in the last 4 years. The last reduction was made in January 2013 when it introduced the use of fuel with sulphur content of ≤15PPM. To have an idea of this change, this fuel is comparable with the rates of the same element in Europe and the United States, which is very different from the reality of the fuels used in the countries of Central America. This helps the environment because it reduces the amount of soot and the average life of the motors as well as the fact that it allows the use of injection systems and computer engines of the last generation. In the case of Daewoo, it is important to emphasize the injection technology used by the Doosan engine manufacturer, supplier of the

engines for Daewoo bus. This injection technology is one of the determining factors for enhancing the features of Daewoo design such as power, pollution and economy. The fuel injection systems of conventional type (Mechanical), have been used since the origin of the Diesel Engine (1927). These operated satisfactorily until the end of the decade of the 70s, when changes in environmental policies pushed manufacturers to reduce the quantities of particulate matter (soot) that was emitted to the atmosphere. The transition of technologies in the fuel injection systems transformed the mechanical control of fuel injection, to the Electronic Management. In the case of Daewoo

Motors in 11.08 12TIS, we have an example of the quad-core transition very suitable for the average Costa Rican, constituting an efficient technology in terms of environmental control (RTV), good performance in kilometers per liter, low sound of the engine (comfort), reliable operation and foremost low cost of maintenance. The technology used by Daewoo, is the so-called injection of two stages. This technique is used by many manufacturers in the world including Daewoo Costa Rica. It has the advantage of being a mechanical injection system: it can control the peaks of smoke (required for the test of Opacity RTV) achieved by the means of the principle of pre-injection and main Injection. In other words, this system has the unique asset of separating the injection process into two stages for each combustion cycle that is generated in the engine achieving a quieter combustion better use of the fuel to achieve a more efficient combustion (very financially viable) and higher power. This is accomplished through the application of injector bodies with double spring, "Two-Spring NozzleHolder". This technology is prior to the Common Rail Injection "CRI" and serves to achieve some of the objectives that would improve the systems subsequently with CRI, with the advantage that they are kept as injection systems of lower cost and simple maintenance for fleet management.

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Air Pollutant Emissions Generated by Mobile Sources in Costa Rica

Dr. Jorge Herrera Murillo1

1 Environmental Analysis Laboratory, School of Environmental Sciences, Universidad Nacional.

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S P O T L I G H T

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ransport vehicles are the main air pollutants, especially in urban and suburban areas, as well as the main cause of general atmospheric pollution. The gas emissions by these mobile sources are directly related to the need of transportation between regions, population growth and the behaviour of the economy in the area. The pollutants that come out of a vehicle usually come from different process. The most common measures for pollutants are made from car exhaust, which are the result of petrol combustion. The main pollutants are: Total organic gases (GOT), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) (the continuous exposition to NOx may increase the risk of a respiratory system disease especially in kids and asthmatics. Chronic exposure to NOx may cause a drop in the respiratory immune system.), sulphur oxides (SOx), particulate matter (PM), toxic gases (such as: 1-3-butadiene, benzene, formaldehyde, etc.), and visibility-obstructing gases such as ammonia, sulphates, PM2.5, etc.). Beyond the pollutants coming from vehicles escapes, there are a multitude of gases coming out of evaporative process, such as GOTs, which are: evaporative emissions of hot car engines (those that occur due to the volatilization of fuel in the fuel system after the engine is shut off.), and the evaporative emissions due to operation (caused by gas leaks while the engine is still running.) The vehicular fleet that was registered in Costa Rica on January 2010 was 1 079 331 vehicles (1 vehicle per 4.2 inhabitants). 63.8% of this fleet consisted of private cars and only 2.8% of the vehicles were destined to public transport. Therefore, it is necessary to properly plan public policies in order to control vehicle emissions and thus, ensure compliance with both current and future standards for air quality, especially if we consider that:• From the total vehicles that composes the fleet, 77.7% use gasoline and only about 22.2% use diesel. From the total vehicles that use gasoline, 20.8% were made in the 1990 (or even before) and thus lack a good emission control system. Approximately 10.6% are 1991-1992 models, vehicles that integrated two-way catalytic converters and therefore lower their emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. The vehicles that date from 1993 and later (68.7% of the fleet gasoline) models, include three-way catalytic converters and other pollution control devices to reduce emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. In regard to the units that use diesel, about 28.1% are models from the year 1993 and earlier units (uncontrolled emissions). About 71.9% are vehicles that already have technology to meet emission standards such as EPA 94 and EPA 98 respectively improvements.• The vehicle fleet growth rate has remained close to

13.3% in the period of 2001-2009. Annual additions to the fleet, which in average is about 58.8%, are mainly particular or private vehicles, which 65% have an age up to 5 years, 13% 5-10 years 16% 10-15 years, 7% over 15 years.b Costa Rica generated 544 767 tons of pollutants in 2010 produced by vehicles that are circulating our streets. The main pollutant is Carbon Monoxide (CO) which is 60.4% of the emissions. The worst vehicles in the pollution part are the private, particular vehicles and the small trucks, which both contribute thanks to their large numbers, about 73% of the emissions. Still, buses and big weight trucks are less than 5.8% of the vehicular fleet but contribute with 31-33% of the PM particles and SOx. In Figure 1, we can observe that most of the emissions of PM10 and PM2.5 particles by mobile sources are provided by light-duty vehicles, which generate 37% and 41%, respectively. A different situation arises when analyzing NOx and CO, where the individual vehicles resulted as the main emitting source of these gases, which in turn are the results from the combustion process, such as seen in Figure 2. According to the latest research done by the Environmental Analysis Laboratory of UNA, the age of the vehicles plays a significant role in pollutant emissions. For example, vehicles not equipped with systems for controlling emissions (model years 1990 and earlier) represent 20.7 % of the total of the country's fleet and contribute with the 77.4 % and 22.7 % of emissions of NOx and GOR, respectively; while 11% of vehicles with model years 1991 and 1992 have already incorporated some emission control systems such as electronic ignition and two-way catalytic converter, and they are responsible for the 6.3% of the organic reactive emissions and 18.2 % of the nitrogen oxides. Finally, the vehicles that are model years 1993-2010 (68% of the total vehicle fleet) contribute with 18% of organic reactive gases and 59% of nitrogen oxides. As we can see in Figure 3, the annual growth rate of the vehicular emissions in the period 2003-2010 which corresponds to the gases CO, GOT and NOx are 9.66 %, 11.1 % and 14.3 % respectively. If we analyse the behaviour of the rates mentioned before, you can see a slight decrease of the same of 2005-2010 in comparison with the period 2003-2005, which can be reasonably attributed to the effect of the technical review as a mechanism of vehicular emissions control. One of the possible measures to be implemented in the country to control these emissions is the replacement of 100% of the buses and taxis with ages over 10 years (by 2015) by high-technology units, which would allow a reduction of emissions of 47.8 % in comparison with the current scenario. The implementation of this measure in the buses would represent 54% of the total reduction of the emission of pollutants.


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Figure 1. Distribution of particulate emissions generated by mobile sources in Costa Rica, according to the type of vehicle.

Figure 2. Distribution of emissions of NOx and CO generated by mobile sources in Costa Rica, according to the type of vehicle.

Figure 3. Evolution of emissions of NOx and CO generated by mobile sources in Costa Rica.(2003-2010)


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Technical Vehicular Inspection in Buses Gas Test Application

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RITEVE

Alexander ZamoraOperations Manager

he Technical Vehicular Inspection allows thousands of Costa Ricans to check the reliance of their vehicle’s state for adequate driving; this helps avoid accidents caused by mechanical failures, all the while protecting the environment and health of the citizens. The mission of Riteve—which is the company in charge of this control—is summarized by the phrase: “We check vehicles to preserve life”. The public transport buses perform periodic inspections every 6 months, according to the Manual of the COSEVI (organ assigned to the MOPT), in which they undergo not only the revision of the state of each of its parts and systems, (like all vehicles) but they also have a section that involves the specific needs of a public service. In 2013, Riteve detected 20,611 severe and dangerous defects in buses that are cause for rejection, which means that it was possible to inform drivers of any failure that could threaten their lives (or the environment) approximately twenty thousand times. In order to control the pollutant gases in buses, Riteve has special equipment called opacimeters, which are specifically designed for diesel engines. The opacimeter is an instrument that is placed in the bus’s exhaust and is connected simultaneously to a computer. This system automatically gauges the percentage of opacity in the fumes emitted. In other words, it tracks the level of darkness of vehicles’ fumes. If a bus presents high percentages of opaqueness, it’s because its system of fuel injection is not working properly, therefore increasing air pollution. The opacimeter used in Riteve, like most of the equipment used in the inspection line, is of the recognized MaHa

(Maschinenbau Haldenwang) brand manufactured in Germany. In addition to the daily maintenance performed on the computer, we constantly calibrate them to ensure that they are always working to perfection and keep up with any and all failure detection. In addition, Riteve has highly trained personnel, such as technicians of automobile mechanics. They are responsible for the visual inspection, which is a thorough inspection of aspects such as contaminant gas or liquid leakage in any part of the bus, to name a few. This combination of high quality alongside trained personnel guarantees the effectiveness and reliability of the results—not only in the gas tests, but any other stage of the inspection. Based on the aforementioned reasons we know the state of the buses that go through our examination and the main reasons for failing the assessment. For example, the coefficient of failing in the public transport on the first inspection is 41.4% in 2013, were 6.03% were for gases. According to the reports of

incidence in buses during the 2013, the first cause of rejection was the imbalance in the braking forces, followed by the braking deficiency and finally excessive wear on the tires. One of the main reasons bus inspection failures is that the bus is not in the proper condition to perform the test. To guarantee the test’s accuracy, as well as the vehicle’s protection, we execute a visual assessment of the vehicle, especially the exhaust system, to be sure that there are no alterations or holes that can alter the test outcome. We also check the vehicle’s oil levels to ensure they are in the optimum levels, as well as to be sure that there are no leaks. Another important aspect for the correct implementation of the test is that the engine doesn’t make any noises out of the ordinary and has every part in place. We also check the connection of the crankcase to the intake vent (where applicable) so that there is no obstruction. Once verified these requirements, is requested to be disabled all computers that consume energy as the air conditioning, lights and the like, in addition, the engine must be at normal temperature. Once we verify these requirements, we deactivate the power-consuming devices such as air conditioning, lights and the engine’s temperature should be normal. To maintain the vehicle’s emissions within an acceptable range, we highly recommend taking the vehicle to a routine check, and exercising preventive maintenance especially in the areas of lubrication and filters. Damage in any of these could lead to engine failure and serious environmental effects.


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The Industrial Strategy for Climate Change

Carlos Vega

S T R A T E G I E S

ACCIÓN Clima, GIZ Programme ConsultorChamber of Industries of Costa Rica

urrently there are many factors that impact emissions of greenhouse gases, in which the fuel used in fleet transport and industrial heat production are highlights. The country has embarked on a crusade to control and mitigate their releases in order to achieve carbon neutrality in the year 2021. But even more important is the migration toward a low-carbon economy by all national productive sectors, doing essential technological improvements of existing equipment, combined with a proper training of users. The industrial sector in Costa Rica has been highly aware of its ecological footprint, and has taken actions to improve its environmental performance for many years. We have seen the implementation of diverse actions related to this topic, such as the control of the wastewater, combustion gases from the boilers, water resource management and recycling programs. All of these actions have had an impact on the workers, their families and the community. As a result of these actions, the water intensity of the industrial sector has decreased up to 47% in six years, while the energy intensity has been reduced by 15 %, in the same period of time. The carbon-intensity has had minor changes, however, it has reached the same levels of six years ago, without having affected their level of production. As part of these actions to

mitigate the effects of climate change, the Costa Rican Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Camara de Industrias de Costa Rica) alongside the Climate Action program from the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GIZ) established in 2009 the Industrial Strategy in the face of climate change. This document defines the guidelines to be followed in matters of climate change, dividing the actions in the main axis of awareness, building capacities and transfer technology, metric, mitigation, and vulnerability and adaptation. This way, we pinpoint the goals for the industry, to strengthen actions already undertaken and develop new approaches for improvement. In order to provide a more efficient follow-up to this new Industry Strategy for Climate Change, a series of conferences has been realized to the industrial sector, by means of workshops on different general technologies in which topics like heating and cooling technologies and transport fleets are revised. The inclusion of a workshop for fleet transportations has been especially important, since it’s one of the factors that generate a major amount of emissions of greenhouse gases; it is important to know the opinion of the industrial sector in this issue. It is expected that this process will be finalized with the development of a Plan of Action, which shows clearly the measures of the sector to improve its management of

the greenhouse gases. On the topic of transportation, this document will identify the needs of the sector in training topics, new technologies and mitigation measures. This way, the industries will know clearly how to impact in a positive way your carbon footprint. Currently, there is an urgent need of inclusion of efficient and cleaner fleets, as the old fleets are not only less efficient in fuel consumption, but generate considerably more emissions affecting human health and contributing significantly to global warming. Driving training is also essential to improve efficiency in the management of the resource without having to make strong investments in the field of new technologies. This training includes two large sections: training of drivers to improve driving, and training of maintenance managers to optimize the computer use. The topic of transport within the industrial sector is vital to be able to answer for the goal of a low-carbon economy, which would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and be an asset to achieve its carbon neutrality. Therefore, it is prudent to continue on the path of inclusion of efficient technologies in the fleet, led by the hand of a correct training of the associated personnel. The industrial sector will be an example to follow, which could be also replicated in other private and public sectors associated with the management of fleets in a near future.


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