Oxygenated Fuels, A Remote Sensing Evaluation

Remote sensing, a new way to investigate automobile emissions, has been used to study the effect of oxygenated fuels on carbon monoxide emissions from in-use vehicles. During the 1988 State of Colorado Oxygenated Fuels Program more than 60,000 vehicle emissions were measured at a local freeway on-ramp for periods before, during and after the mandated oxygenated fuel usage. The results show a small but significant decrease in average carbon monoxide emissions of 6 ± 2.5%. The distribution of emissions shows that 50% of the carbon monoxide was emitted by 7.2% of the vehicles.