Green Options

Editor’s Note: Corey Weaver is a Ford Technical Expert and EcoBoost’s project leader.

One of the great challenges for automakers today is determining which technology or group of technologies will be the most effective in increasing fuel-efficiency and lowering greenhouse emissions - while still meeting the performance, quality and price car-buyers expect. The array of choices available and under development is significant, ranging from turbo charging, direct injection, six speed transmissions, electric power assist steering, weight reductions, electrification, bio fuels and hydrogen fuel cells.

We know there is a viable future for some of the most advanced technologies, but we also recognize not all of them are market-ready or affordable for consumers. Even advanced technologies take time to gain widespread acceptance. For instance, despite mainstream acceptance of hybrid technology, hybrids remain less than 3% of the market.

Like it or not, at least for the near future most of us are stuck with internal combustion engine powered cars. While a lot of hype is behind future cars and technology, from electric to hydrogen to everything in between, a lot of improvements can yet be made on the ICE engine.

To that end, the Department of Energy has awarded GM with $2.7 million to develop a working prototype of a Shape Memory Alloy engine. In theory, this engine could recycle the waste heat and turn it into electrical energy, perhaps one day even replacing alternators and improving fuel efficiency.

Many of you have heard of Ricardo, a company that has a rich history in Motorsports. However, most of you probably haven’t heard of Recaptured Energy Technologies (RET), until now. The company has just announced a partnership with Ricardo to develop and produce “Green Solutions” to the fuel and emissions problems that plague fleet, commercial and transit vehicle operators.

RET’s basic technology is this: they have a retrofitable hydraulic propulsion system for large vehicles that stores energy in hydraulic cylinders with compressed gas. The vehicle, such as a city bus, then uses that stored energy to give it a boost when starting up. The technology is known as RPS, or Retrofitable Propulsion System, and reduces fuel use by 25 percent and emissions by 25 percent. But before you finish mumbling about how improved fuel economy doesn’t eliminate our dependence on fossil-fuel based energy, this system can improve the fuel and emissions of vehicles using all forms of fuel including ethanol, biodiesel, compressed natural gas, propane and more.

“We like to say that the vehicle is indifferent and fuel agnostic,” said Sam Jones, President of Recaptured Energy Technologies.

Since its humble beginnings in the 19th century, the sparkplug has been a mainstay of the combustion engine.

Some engineers at Ford, in collaboration with Liverpool University researchers have decided to modernize spark plug technology. Since we’re in the 21st century, that replacement is going to be lasers.

Yes, I said lasers.

The first car my best friend ever drove was a early 80’s Honda Accord hatchback. It was little more than an oversized rollarskate with a tiny, 80 horsepower engine, but it beat the hell out of walking. The car itself was cramped and lacked all the amenities one would find standard on today’s cars, even cupholders. Today, the car serves as an immobile flower bed for a maple tree and wildflowers, but the memories will remain.

Flash forward to today, and a new study finds that since the early ’80’s the Honda Accord has packed on over 1,000 lbs, doubled its standard horsepower, and fuel economy has steadily dipped. The study seems to suggest that if vehicle weight, horsepower, and torque were held at their 1980’s levels, then fuel efficiency could have increased by at least 50%, rather than the 15% increase that actually occured. But is it really that simple?

Nissan has announced plans to sell compact hybrid vehicles based on its own technology in Japan, starting from 2011.

The Japanese outfit intends to make a low-cost, compact powertrain featuring an integrated electric motor providing supplemental power to the main gasoline engine. Energy will be provided by high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

According to Nissan the hybrids should be more than twice as fuel efficient as the equivalent gas-powered offerings.

Most odd stories relating to the environment tend to revolve around researchers and scientists and their slightly off the wall discoveries. But not so today. Today, in news of the weird – or at least slightly surreal – I bring you Daimler, the German automaker, who announced last week their very first hybrid car, the Mercedes Benz S Class. It’s a limousine.

This week Sao Paulo, Brazil is hosting one of the world’s largest gatherings of the international biofuels industry. The Ethanol Summit 2009 was kicked off in part by President Bill Clinton who noted that Brazil is known for producing the most energy efficient and cost competitive ethanol in the world using sugarcane. The downside, though, says Clinton, is that the country’s increase in ethanol production is a precursor to the continued destruction of the rainforests.

The issue of rainforest destruction (which many experts say is NOT a primary result of increased biofuels production) segues in to the debate of “good biofuels versus bad biofuels”. A bad biofuel may be one that uses food crops, excessive land and too much water. A better biofuel uses biomass, or waste, little water and little to no land.

Ever wish you could buy a car that would run on just about anything?  An engine that gave you something approaching the efficiency of diesel, and the convenience of gas?  Last week, the forward-thinkers at Lotus announced just that.

It’s called the Lotus Omnivore, and we’ve got all the details on this little, all-aluminum marvel.

Editor’s Note: Our friends at Popular Mechanics have written an in-depth piece about an essential piece of fuel-saving technology: the turbocharger. Read the rest of this story at PM.

In the 1980s, it was difficult to escape the turbocharger. The twin energy crises of the 1970s forced automakers to produce cars that delivered better fuel economy. And that meant downsizing engines. By the 1980s, turbo technology was evolving and automakers installed them to boost the power of these smaller engines. But turbos promised more than just power—they promised fuel economy benefits too.

Several weeks ago, I filled you in on Bentley’s upcoming ethanol supercar, promised to be the fastest, most powerful Bentley ever offered.

In the days since, Bentley has kept the world’s journalists hungry for more details, releasing only this “Project Victoria” teaser video, a March reveal date, and precious little else… but has one of Volkswagen’s lesser-known suppliers inadvertently given away Project Victoria’s horsepower secrets?

You bet! Read it here first, after the jump.