Gasoline-electric hybrids still get most of the green ink, but clean diesels are vying for environmental street cred of their own. What skeptics may not know is that unlike the smoky, noisy diesels of the early ’80s, today’s diesels are as clean as gasoline engines. In fact, diesels emit about 20 percent less carbon dioxide than gasoline engines do. And because diesel engines don’t have to be as large as gas engines to generate the same power, diesels are up to 40 percent more fuel-efficient.

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