Emission tests save fuel: Experts say

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts are calling on the government to make roadworthy tests compulsory for vehicles nationwide, arguing that a poorly maintained car not only emits smoky emission but also consumes more fuel than one that undergoes regular checks.

Clean Air Partnership (MEB) secretary-general Ahmad Syafruddin said on Thursday that poorly maintained cars produced excessive emission due to an excessive use of fuel.

"Lowering vehicular emission can reduce energy consumption by cars by up to 20 percent. Therefore, the government should not only focus on reducing electricity use," Ahmad said.

The government has asked the public to save electricity in order to cut fuel consumption, which has steadily increased in the past few years.

Rising fuel consumption means the fuel subsidy will cost the government more.

Vehicles consume around 55 percent of the country's yearly fuel quota.

The government set the country's fuel quota at some 59 million kiloliters for 2005, down from around 62 million kiloliters in 2004.

Ahmad said that motorists often took shortcuts to boost the power of their vehicles, including opening up engine valves to allow more fuel into the engine, instead of conducting regular maintenance checks and subsequently having their cars serviced.

Emission checks are required on public and freight vehicles only. The checks are part of requirements to get roadworthy certificates from the City Transportation Agency.

However, in practice many vehicle owners often obtain roadworthy certificates without having emission tests done by tipping officers in the agency.

Auto 2000 workshop service manager Bobby RS explained that regular maintenance checks was aimed at balancing the mix between fuels and oxygen during the combustion process inside a vehicle's engine.

He said that a balanced mix between fuel and oxygen during the combustion process gave a vehicle optimal power. Vehicles that were not well-maintained would not have the right mix of fuels and oxygen, he added.

"With an unbalanced mix of the two materials, vehicles will not have optimal power. And to gain more power, vehicle owners often boost the flow of fuel to the engine," Bobby said.

According to Ahmad, Law No. 14/1992 on land transportation and its implementing regulations No. 43 and No. 44/1993 require all vehicles to produce clean emission, but the regulations do not assign any institution to carry out emission checks.

He suggested that the government issue a regulation requiring all vehicles to have emission checks.

Ahmad also called on the government to introduce measures to ensure cleaner emission, such as by improving public transportation and intensifying studies on alternative energy like bio-diesel and ethanol.

"Improving public transportation would reduce the number of vehicles on city streets," he said.

He said the city administration should immediately encourage motorists to use compressed natural gas (CNG) in their vehicles instead of gasoline.

"There is no reason to delay to expansion of the use of CNG for public transportation because we have huge reserves of natural gas," he added.