What Is the Difference Between Diesel and Unleaded Fuel?

Only fill up with the type of fuel your car is made for.

Like the weather, gas prices are a perennial topic on conversation because they are changing continuously and affect most people daily. Most often, news and conversation centers around the general upward trend of gas prices, but there is also a difference in price between diesel and unleaded fuel.

Misconceptions

Unleaded fuel is the modern term for gasoline. Since the discovery that lead is harmful to human health, it has not been included in a variety of everyday products, including gas and pencils. The term unleaded is the standard term for regular gasoline, while diesel is a different type of fuel.

Efficiency

Gasoline and diesel fuels are utilized differently by car engines. While gasoline requires a spark to ignite it, diesel fuel is injected into compressed air which lights the fuel spontaneously. A gasoline engine uses a lower ratio of air to fuel than a diesel engine does, so cars that run on diesel need to refuel less often than cars that run on gasoline.

Effects

Both diesel fuel and gasoline release carbon dioxide when the fuel is burned. Diesel fuel actually produces a higher amount of carbon dioxide per gallon burned than gasoline does, but due to its higher fuel efficiency, diesel-powered cars produce less carbon dioxide than those running on gasoline.

References

• Bloomberg: Europe Gasoline at 2-Year High
• U.S. Energy Information Administration: Diesel and the Environment