Mark your calendar for a webcast: Protecting Public Health through Cleaner Fuels and Lower Emissions

Source: By Urban Air Initiative • Posted: Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Urban Air Initiative will sponsor a briefing on Capitol Hill Monday December 14th to discuss the importance of protecting public health through cleaner fuels. Click here to listen to the webcast from 12-1:30 CST.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), a supporting organization of UAI will lead the event. The goal is get the conversation started about the health problems posed by our current gasoline. Toxic aromatics likebenzene, ethyl-benzene, toluene and xylene (BTEX) are added to gas to boost octane, but there are cleaner and healthier octane options available like ethanol.

Speakers for this forum are:
  • Reuben Sarkar, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy
  • Dr. Carol Kwiatkowski, Executive Director, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange
  • Dean Drake, President, Defour Group, LLC; Retired General Motors engineer (34 years)

BTEX compounds contribute to the formation of secondary air pollutants, including ultrafine particulate matter (UFP) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Numerous health studies have linked both tailpipe exhaust and the BTEX complex to serious developmental and many chronic health conditions.

As carmakers look for additional sources of octane, the impacts to both health and the environment need to be considered.
Research is finding that high octane fuel blends, such as a mid-level biofuel blend (30 percent ethanol and 70 percent gasoline), may enable greater engine efficiencies, lower GHG emissions and improve fuel economy. Substituting cleaner forms of octane into fuel will have the added benefit of improving air quality.

We hope you can take the time to listen in to this event. It will be Monday December 14th from 12-1:30 CST. Click here to participate.

 

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