Originally Posted by
Crash one
So how does the non scientific general public user find out the real truth?
I was told that to burn a gallon of petrol produces about three quarters gallon of water, which is pretty harmless stuff. What does the other 25% consist of and what is the genuine comparison with diesel?
Well, the first rule is to avoid web sites which have been set up to deliberately obfuscate the damage caused by burning fossil fuels, such as WUWT and the GWPF.
The products of combustion is fairly basic chemistry as described
here: "Carbon dioxide is the principal product of combustion of fossil fuels since carbon accounts for 60–90 percent of the mass of fuels that we burn."
Diesel emits 2.68 kg of CO2 per litre while for petrol it's 2.31 kg -
source.
Note that a litre of diesel weighs about 0.87 kg, so it emits more than its own weight in CO2. That's because each atom of its carbon combines with two atoms of oxygen.