Peer Reviewed: Remote Emissions Testing Hits the Road

Jun 7, 2011 - On-road detectors have arrived, but are they more effective than stationary tests? Michael Woods. Environ. Sci. Technol. , 1996, 30 (6),...
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Remote Emissions Testing Hits the Road On-road detectors have arrived, but are they more ef f e c t i v e t h a n s t a t i o n a r y tests? MICHAEL WOODS

ir pollution's equivalent of the speed trap— the portable auto emissions detector—is beginning to appear on more U.S. roads in areas not in attainment with federal ozone standards. The detector, invented I by Donald H. Stedman and his associ^ ates at the University of Denver, is a suitcase-sized device tiiat can analyze tailpipe emissions from thousands of vehicles a day, in a split second, as they speed down a road. It detects carbon monoxide (CO), ozone precursors hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NOJ, as well as smoke. The readout for each vehicle includes an im«i£6 of the re