Green Options » car parts http://greenoptions.com/tag/car-parts Posts tagged 'car parts' Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:47:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Baylor University Researchers Find New Uses for Coconut Husks to Make Car Parts http://sustainablog.org/2009/01/14/baylor-university-researchers-find-new-uses-for-coconut-husks-to-make-car-parts/ http://sustainablog.org/2009/01/14/baylor-university-researchers-find-new-uses-for-coconut-husks-to-make-car-parts/#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:47:33 +0000 Janet Shan http://sustainablog.org/2009/01/14/baylor-university-researchers-find-new-uses-for-coconut-husks-to-make-car-parts/ Baylor University Researchers Find New Uses for Coconut HusksResearchers at Baylor University have been working on designing multiple low-cost products that can be derived from coconuts in poor coastal regions, where the fruit grows in abundance and is a renewable resource. The group, led by Dr. Walter Bradley, Distinguished Professor of Engineering, has found an innovative way to use coconut husks in automotive interiors.

They are are using coconut fibers in place of currently used synthetic fibers to make compression-molded composites for automobile parts such as bed liners, floorboards, sun visors and inside door covers. The idea for new uses of the coconut grew out of a desire to aid poor coconut farmers in coastal regions in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Ghana and Sri Lanka. In most developing countries, the coconut husk is basically a throwaway material.

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]]> http://sustainablog.org/2009/01/14/baylor-university-researchers-find-new-uses-for-coconut-husks-to-make-car-parts/feed/ US Scientists Make Car Parts and Biodiesel From Coconuts http://gas2.org/2009/01/07/us-scientists-make-car-parts-and-biodiesel-from-coconuts/ http://gas2.org/2009/01/07/us-scientists-make-car-parts-and-biodiesel-from-coconuts/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:00:01 +0000 Andrew Williams http://gas2.org/2009/01/07/us-scientists-make-car-parts-and-biodiesel-from-coconuts/

A team of researchers at Baylor University, Texas, have figured out a way to make car parts from coconuts, opening the door to the replacement of environmentally damaging plastic with an abundant, renewable resource.

The team have also created biodiesel from coconut oil, and are confident the new fuel could be an economically viable substitute for gasoline, as well as a vital source of income for more than ten million coconut farmers worldwide struggling on tiny annual incomes, typically as little as $500.

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