For fucks sake.
Australia to temporarily ease fuel quality standards
Submitted 3 weeks ago by NomNom@feddit.uk to australia@aussie.zone
Comments
SpicyLizards@reddthat.com 3 weeks ago
TheHolm@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
This one was a right move. Fuel price is in everything. Keeping it under control is right thing.
SpicyLizards@reddthat.com 3 weeks ago
I strongly disagree as there are alternatives to further torching our world further. This is another short-sighted solution to a problem that inevitably effects us, and we are going all in.
brisk@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Similar level to “improve housing availability by freezing housing standards”. Hurts the same people it purports to help.
fizzle@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
Yeah but also nah.
The relaxed standards will cause more emissions and may reduce longevity of a vehicle.
The question is how much of each will occur, which I think is unknowable?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 3 weeks ago
We do know - none. These new emission laws only came in a few months ago, so we’re just going back to what we were 4 months ago.
BagOfHeavyStones@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
They’re going back to the standard we had in December last year. It’s not a dramatic downgrade, just more sulfur iirc.
brisk@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
That does make it sound better, but that change was already a more than a decade overdue
Here’s the part most Australians don’t know. For years, our petrol would have been illegal in almost every country we’d consider a peer. Europe hit 10ppm sulphur limits back in 2009. The United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, China, even India all got there before us.
Global consultancy Stratas Advisors ranked Australia’s fuel quality 85th in the world. We sat between Argentina and Tanzania. A 2017 Commonwealth review put us 70th globally and dead last among the 35 OECD countries.
And what are we going back to?
Air pollution causes approximately 5,000 premature deaths in Australia each year. Vehicle emissions account for a significant chunk of that figure. Research from the University of Melbourne and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare linked dirty fuel directly to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and asthma. Emerging studies suggest connections to Alzheimer’s, dementia, and ADHD.
The annual health cost? Around $17.8 billion, with another $4.5 billion in welfare losses and lost productivity. That exceeds the national burden of obesity.
The International Council on Clean Transportation estimated that proper fuel standards could reduce premature deaths from vehicle emissions by up to 75 per cent. For years, Australian policymakers had that research sitting on their desks.
fizzle@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
That doesn’t seem like a big deal in the short term.
TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id 3 weeks ago
Are they going to call the cheaper fuel ‘Guzzoline’?
ms_lane@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Diseasal
CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
We’ll all be riding shiny and chrome
maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Witness
mrdown@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How about putting pressure on the usa and israel and stopping collaborating woth them in this war of agression
Fleur_@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Greens wouldn’t have. That being said thank fucking god it’s not the liberals in charge I don’t even want to imagine what shit fuck mess we’d be in if they were in government during this Iran war.
blind3rdeye@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Does this mean acid rain is back on the menu?
absquatulate@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
“Omg, fuel cost is skyrocketing” “We could promote elec-” “Time to allow cars to run on bunker fuels!”
Is Australia trying a mad-max speedrun?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 3 weeks ago
You think promoting electric anything will make any difference now?
We need to open more fuel refineries here again. Like it or not, petrol and diesel aren’t going away in our lifetime. There is simply no replacement for them across the board.