Abstract
Hsinchu County Environmental Protection Bureau executes the “dynamometer test plan for diesel-fueled vehicle emission” for diesel-fueled vehicle pollution control in order to, on one hand, improve the air quality in Hsinchu County and give citizens their clean air back and, on the other, improve the quality of air in Hsinchu county through inspections and tuning efforts from time to time, as to achieve the effects of pollution reduction and environmental protection. This plan was carried out on diesel-fueled vehicles traveling in Hsinchu County. These vehicles were called to the inspection stations by citizen reports or visual inspection on emission. Also, license plate identification system was deployed to check on the emission of pollutants by diesel-fueled vehicles in the self-management zones in the jurisdiction.
Dynamometer testing (reporting to inspection station on drivers own, self-management, inspection by notification) and roadside testing were conducted during the plan to learn more about vehicles of high pollution. The statistics show that the unqualified rate was higher for roadside inspections. 117 vehicles were pulled over for testing and the unqualified rate was 43.6%. The opacity unqualified rate was higher in large private and business trucks, which require further auditing. For the dynamometer testing (2,508 vehicles reported for testing), the general unqualified rate was 4.7% and rejection rate 3.0%; the unqualified rate was higher in vehicles that are 18-20 years old and those with exhaust emission 2500-3000 c.c.; by type of vehicle, the unqualified rate was higher in small business trucks. The notification for inspection will be issued continuously to vehicles of high unqualified rate for better control of pollutant emission.
The analysis on individual inspection projects indicates that 68 businesses signed up for “environmental-friendly fleet” with 1,441 environmental-friendly diesel-fueled vehicles included for control. The general opacity of these fleets was merely 0.20m-1, which is the lowest emission of pollutants among all vehicles tested. 796 businesses signed up for self-management and 3,529 diesel-fueled vehicles were included for control. In total, 2,136 self-management labels were issued. The opacity of the vehicles on self-management was 0.32m-1, which was a reduction rate of 35.4% after these vehicles were included for self-management. This indicates the promotion of environmental-friendly fleets and self-management does the job for reducing emission of pollutants from vehicles. Vehicles reporting for testing by notification (visual inspection on emission, reporting by citizens and second tests due to previous failure) exhibited lower unqualified rate than those on self-management and those reporting for testing on their own, but the general opacity was just lower than that of roadside inspection (1.60m-1) with the average opacity of 0.82m-1.
For the visual inspection on emission, 20,085 vehicles were identified and 142 notifications issued for visual inspection on emission. Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County and Miaoli County joined force for the inspection efforts. License plate identification was performed on 145,327 vehicles and notification for
Abstract-II
was issued to 4,087 vehicles to continually manage specific area. The efforts to
include specific self-management zones have paid off, as inclusion rate was
57.2% for the Scientific Park, 23.7% for Neiwan Scenic Area and 46.8% for
Hsinchu Industrial Park.
The efforts of promotional presentations, visits to businesses, telephone
interviews and questionnaires have reached 4,194 large Stage I through Stage III
diesel-fueled vehicles eligible for subsidies. The application for retirement and
replacement subsidy was submitted for 286 vehicles for a total of subsidies of
NT$ 100,295,000. A diesel vehicle applied for DPF subsidy. And 15 diesel
vehicles applied for subsidies for maintenance of fuel control system for a total
subsidy of NT$ 977,000. The promotion of CSR environmental-friendly fleets
encouraged local businesses and their vehicles. Therefore, 204 old large dieselfueled
vehicles were ready for retirement, and 6 vehicles were installed DPF
approved by Environmental Protection Administration for substantial reduction of
pollution.
This plan has achieved several results, including pollution improvement
through detecting nonconforming vehicles, beforehand tuning of vehicles for
servicing and inspection in one package, and helping with vehicle retirement and
replacement. The improvement of pollutant discharge was estimated. It is
estimated that the plan has helped with the reduction of 37.07 ton/year of
particulate
