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In New York City, congestion pricing leads to marked drop in pollution

(e360.yale.edu)
472 points Brajeshwar | 3 comments | 10 Dec 25 15:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.239s | source
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lkbm ◴[10 Dec 25 15:34 UTC] No.46218856[source]▶
> Particulates issued from tailpipes can aggravate asthma and heart disease and increase the risk of lung cancer and heart attack. Globally, they are a leading risk factor for premature death.

Minor nitpick, but tailpipes aren't the primary source of emissions. The study is about PM2.5[0]. which will chiefly be tires and brake pads. Modern gasoline engines are relatively clean, outside of CO2, though diesel engines spit out a bunch of bad stuff.

[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s44407-025-00037-2

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aurareturn ◴[10 Dec 25 15:50 UTC] No.46219147[source]▶

  Minor nitpick, but tailpipes aren't the primary source of emissions.
Spend some time in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City or a very dense city in Asia and then come back here. Let me know if you change your mind.
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lkbm ◴[10 Dec 25 15:54 UTC] No.46219200[source]▶
I won't change my mind about emissions in NYC. NYC is full of modern, western cars.

Two-stroke engines are terrible, classic automobiles are terrible, cars with no emission regulations will tend to be terrible. Cars in NYC will have catalytic converters and other technologies to reduce tailpipe emissions.

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1. fsckboy ◴[10 Dec 25 16:01 UTC] No.46219319[source]▶
western? what is this less polluting non-western car you are advocating?
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2. fullstop ◴[10 Dec 25 16:03 UTC] No.46219357[source]▶
They probably mean two stroke motorcycles.
3. lkbm ◴[10 Dec 25 17:01 UTC] No.46220234[source]▶
Pretty much any new car sold in the US, Canada, Mexico, and most of Europe. "Western" typically refers to "countries rich/developed enough to [in this case] add emissions regulations". It's a luxury that many countries haven't gotten to yet, but is widespread in North America and Europe.

The good news is that I believe Ho Chi Minh City is about to start, so hopefully they'll have much cleaner air in a couple years.