engine

Revetec, a little known company from the Gold Coast region of Australia, may be on to something huge: they’ve created an engine that is 50% smaller, 50% lighter, has 50% lower emissions and is cheaper to manufacture than a conventional internal combustion engine of the same horsepower.

 The Cyclone Waste Heat Engine (WHE) is a self-starting engine that operates runs on waste heat emanating from an external source, such as the exhaust from an internal (or external) combustion engine, or the direct burning of biomass (i.e., processing garbage into methane would not be required). The WHE is also designed to run efficiently on solar heat without the installation of costly photovoltaic panels.

Scania (part of Volkswagen) builds modified, heavy-duty diesel engines designed to run on almost pure ethanol (E95, or 95% ethanol, with a 5% ignition improver).If that sounds weird, that’s because it is. US auto manufacturers make a big deal out of converting cars and trucks to run on ethanol/gasoline blends of up to 85% ethanol.

Porsche 912 turned out to be a sales success, outselling the 911 for the first two years they were both on the market. Ultimately, though, the faster and more expensive 911 won out and the 912 was discontinued.

MUNICH (Thomson Financial) — BMW will decide this year on an ecologically compatible car for the U.S. market — which is likely to be battery powered — CEO Norbert Reithofer said.

Don't try this at home, but Transonic Combustion, has created a fuel injection system that will let diesel engines run on regular gasoline. The company's fuel injection system dramatically increases the internal compression in an engine, a standard 2.3-liter diesel engine that gets 50 miles per gallon can get 100 miles per gallon when retrofitted.

Ford Motor Company is introducing a new technology called EcoBoost that will deliver up to 20 percent better fuel economy on half a million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles annually in North America during the next five years.

General Electric's biggest spending on "environmental initiatives" now to deflect criticism, corporate style, is ADVERTISING.

In the hypercompetitive world of Formula 1 motor racing, the only thing greater than the level of technology is the money spent developing it, and a lot of that money is about to be invested in green technology that will appear in cars the rest of us drive.

A simple redesign of the petrol engine could greatly increase its efficiency when idling or driving at low speeds, as well as reduce the harmful emissions it produces. UK researchers say the new design could even make petrol engines as efficient as diesel ones.

General Motors (GM) reports it is working to install a type of engine that will improve fuel efficiency by more than 15 percent and contribute to reducing
U.S. foreign oil dependency. The homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine also creates less toxic emissions by burning fuel with a flameless combustion rather than using a spark plug.

As concerns over the environment continue to grow, so does the hybrid vehicle sector – as seen at this year’s Hybridfest in Madison, WI. During the event, General Motors (GM) unveils a two-mode Chevrolet Hybrid – a vehicle with two electric motors due to be released in late 2007.

I don't think it's possible.

Going Green and going fast - The world speed record for a street car was broken by an E85 Doge Viper that runs on clean burning Bio Diesel. The 1200 horsepower car rocketed from a standstill to 220.7 MPH in one mile.