a. n. (Esp. with reference to vehicles or industrial processes) emission of no or very few pollutants;b. adj. (esp. of a vehicle or industrial process) characterized by the emission of no or very few pollutants; cf. low emissionadj.
Emissions are typically products of combustion, and may be gaseous or in particulate form. In the context of global warming, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are often implied.
1952
Thus we have zero emission of nitrogen oxides now, against a very definite amount a few years ago.
Proceedings Ann. Meeting Air Pollution & Smoke Prevention Assoc. Amer. 66/1
1971
Spaces with zero-emission were entered in the clean zone and the optimum distribution of emission rates..was found.
Atmospheric Environmentvol. 5 61
1991
A new California clean air law mandates that by 1998, 2 percent of a manufacturer's sales in the state release zero emissions.
Dispatch (Gilroy, California) 26 July b4/1
1996
A $50 million investment fund (to be financed by governments) to underwrite zero-emissions factories.
Fast Company June 114/1
2001
Our children's children may run their energy-efficient world on zero-emission fuel cells powered by plentiful hydrogen.
Review (Rio Tinto plc) December 9/2
2002
A century revolutionised by the combustion engine could..make way for a new era defined by zero-emission vehicles using a completely different technology.
D. Goleman et al., Business: Ultimate Resource 1825/3
2007
It will still emit considerable pollution, though less than a conventional coal plant. ‘Calling it zero-emission is a blatant lie.’
Chicago Tribune (Midwest edition) 19 December i. 10/5
Forms
Variant forms
Also zero-emissions.
Frequency
zero-emission typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zero-emission is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of zero-emission, n. & adj., 1950–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
Decade
Frequency per million words
1950
0.0003
1960
0.0029
1970
0.0062
1980
0.0086
1990
0.01
2000
0.012
2010
0.015
Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.
zero-emission, n. & adj. was first published in 1999.