Science Centres: Energy

Wellington vehicles put to the test

NIWA tested the exhaust quality of nearly one car a minute during a public open day at Wellington’s Westpac stadium last month.

Our remote sensing equipment uses beams of light to measure pollutants in the vehicle exhaust, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulates. Drivers get immediate feedback on their vehicle emissions with the words ‘good’, ‘fair’, or ‘poor’ flashing up on an electronic display board. These messages are derived from our detailed measurements.

The open day was part of Greater Wellington’s ‘Be The Difference’ campaign, which encourages the capital’s residents to adopt simple measures to help the environment. It was an excellent opportunity for raising public awareness about the environmental effects of vehicle emissions and the state of repair of their vehicle. Most people stopped to collect a detailed printout and to discuss their emission test results with representatives of the Motor Trade Association, who were on hand to offer advice on vehicle repairs and tuning.

The remote sensing gear will also be deployed at road-side sites to measure and assess the emissions of the Wellington region vehicle fleet as a whole. On road, we have tested cars with a frequency as high as one every two seconds.