"Clean diesel power is the technology of the future," according to a white paper released March 22 by the Diesel Technology Forum to mark its one-year anniversary. The paper, "Engineering Clean Air," documents the innovations in technologies that have dramatically reduced, and will continue to reduce, the emissions from all diesel engines. "The progress the diesel industry has made has been extraordinary -- to meet increasing customer demands for greater fuel efficiency, performance, durability and reliability, while at the same time achieve unparalleled progress in reducing emissions," said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Forum. According to Schaeffer, technological innovation has transformed inherently simple mechanically controlled engines to ones with fully integrated electronic computer controls that now monitor and adjust every aspect of engine performance and emissions thousands of times each second. Today's engines employ a wide range of technologies to lower emissions and increase performance and efficiency including new combustion chamber designs, advanced electronic fuel injection systems, turbocharging systems, exhaust gas recirculation, oxidation catalysts, particulate filters, and the use of reduced sulfur clean diesel fuel. Of the five major emissions from internal combustion engines -- carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter -- diesel emits only a small amount of the first three, according to the Forum. The focus of the industry has been to reduce particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The white paper explains that particulate matter emissions from all new on-highway diesel engines built since 1988 have been reduced 83 percent. Emissions of nitrogen oxides have been reduced by 63 percent since 1988 and new engine standards for 2004 will cut NOx emissions in half again -- resulting in a total reduction of 83 percent of oxides of nitrogen since 1988. Adopted in February, the 2007-2010 EPA regulations will require the use of cleaner diesel fuel that will enable the further lowering of NOx and PM -- reducing these emissions by as much as 98 percent from the 1988 levels, according to the Forum -- virtually eliminating these emissions from on-highway engines. Critical to achieving these reductions will be the introduction of cleaner diesel fuel. "Diesel is the world's most efficient internal combustion engine," said Schaeffer, "and it provides both more power and more fuel efficiency than alternatives such as gasoline, compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). With the technological advancements now underway coupled with cleaner diesel fuel, we are well on our way to being able to state with confidence that diesel power will also be the cleanest." The release of the white paper coincides with the Diesel Technology Forum's one-year anniversary. Copies of the white paper, "Engineering Clean Air," can be obtained by downloading the document from www.dieselforum.org or by contacting the Forum at (703) 234-4411. About the Diesel Technology Forum The Diesel Technology Forum brings together the diesel industry, the diesel user community, civic and public interest leaders, government regulators, academics, scientists, the petroleum industry, and public health researchers, to encourage the exchange of information, ideas, scientific findings, and points of view on current and future uses of diesel power technology.