Various combinations of commercially available technologies could greatly reduce fuel consumption in passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, minivans, and other light-duty vehicles without compromising vehicle performance or safety. Assessment of Technologies for Improving Light Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy estimates the potential fuel savings and costs to consumers of available technology combinations for three types of engines: spark-ignition gasoline, compression-ignition diesel, and hybrid. According to its estimates, adopting the full combination of improved technologies in medium and large cars and pickup trucks with spark-ignition engines could reduce fuel consumption by 29 percent at an additional cost of $2,200 to the consumer. Replacing spark-ignition engines with diesel engines and components would yield fuel savings of about 37 percent at an added cost of approximately $5,900 per vehicle, and replacing spark-ignition engines with hybrid engines and components would reduce fuel consumption by 43 percent at an increase of $6,000 per vehicle. The book focuses on fuel consumption-the amount of fuel consumed in a given driving distance-because energy savings are directly related to the amount of fuel used. In contrast, fuel economy measures how far a vehicle will travel with a gallon of fuel. Because fuel consumption data indicate money saved on fuel purchases and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, the book finds that vehicle stickers should provide consumers with fuel consumption data in addition to fuel economy information.

This volume of the IARC Monographs provides evaluations of the carcinogenicity of diesel and gasoline engine exhausts, and of 10 nitroarenes found in diesel engine exhaust: 3,7-dinitrofluoranthene, 3,9-dinitrofluoranthene, 1,3-dinitropyrene, 1,6-dinitropyrene, 1,8-dinitropyrene, 6-nitrochrysene, 2-nitrofluorene, 1-nitropyrene, 4-nitropyrene, and 3-nitrobenzanthrone. Diesel engines are used for transport on and off roads (e.g. passenger cars, buses, trucks, trains, ships), for machinery in various industrial sectors (e.g. mining, construction), and for electricity generators, particularly in developing countries. Gasoline engines are used in cars and hand-held equipment (e.g. chainsaws). The emissions from such combustion engines comprise a complex and varying mixture of gases (e.g. carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides), particles (e.g. PM10, PM2.5, ultrafine particles, elemental carbon, organic carbon, ash, sulfate, and metals), volatile organic compunds (e.g. benzene, formaldehyde) and semi-volatile organic compounds (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) including oxygenated and nitrated derivatives of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Diesel and gasoline engines thus make a significant contribution to a broad range of air pollutants to which people are exposed in the general population as well as in different occupational settings. An IARC Monographs Working Group reviewed epidemiological evidence, animal bioassays, and mechanistic and other relevant data to reach conclusions as to the carcinogenic hazard to humans of environmental or occupational exposure to diesel and gasoline engine exhausts (including those associated with the mining, railroad, construction, and transportation industries) and to 10 selected nitroarenes. -- Back cover.