One happy couple shares their experience of switching from dirty oil to, well, dirty oil – but of the vegetable kind.

Diesel engine can run on waste vegetable oil from restaurants, which gives the grease two happy solutions: it prevents it from clogging up sewerage and powers a vehicle with fewer emissions.

Catherine and Danny say the process of converting their diesel wagon to vegetable oil was surprisingly easy and it only took a couple of days to be done.

“We don’t spend any money on gas now”, they say, adding that they only use conventional diesel once every two months.

The couple have promised to give the car to their small son when he grows up and they say that both from a financial and environmental point of view, the experience has been a success.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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Most people are familiar with automobile air emissions. Perhaps one day there will only be electric cars and no car air emissions. But there are many on other engines in use by commercial and industrial operations that may cause air emissions. In general these are called reciprocating internal combustion engines, or RICE.

On February 17, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule that will further reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants from existing diesel powered stationary reciprocating internal combustion engines.

The EPA estimates that there are more than 900,000 of these engines that generate electricity and power
equipment at industrial, agricultural and other facilities. Industrial facilities use these engines to generate electricity for compressors and pumps as well as grind wood and crush stone. They also are used in emergencies to produce electricity to pump water for flood and fire control.

Diesel oil when burned will emit small amounts of unburnt organic material. These might include formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, and methanol.

The intent of the new rules is to further reduce these types of air emissions.  These toxic air pollutants, also known as hazardous air pollutants or air toxics, are those pollutants known or suspected of causing cancer and other serious health effects.

Operators of non-emergency engines will be required to add on additional control devices to reduce these air emissions by as much as 70 percent. Selected engines will also have to be of a certain horsepower and age.

All regulated engines will also have to burn ultra low sulfur fuel oil. Burning such a fuel will reduce diesel particulates air emissions that are formed as sulfates.

For further information: EPA fact sheet (PDF)

Article appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

photo: Greg Chiasson

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The EPA says in a report to Congress that the Clean Diesel Program is working as planned. The program, funded at $50 million last year, allowed EPA to fund the purchase or retrofitting of 14,000 diesel-powered vehicles and pieces of equipment, reducing the potential for respiratory illnesses and saving money in communities nationwide.

The resulting benefits from the program include:

• reducing 46,000 tons of nitrogen oxide, a key contributor to elevated smog levels, and 2,200 tons of particulate matter over the lifetime of diesel vehicles
• conserving 3.2.million gallons of fuel annually under the SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program, which saves operators $8 million annually
• generating public health benefits between $500 million to $1.4 billion

EPA is currently implementing stringent regulatory standards for new diesel engines. Because diesel engines remain in use for decades, it is also important to address the existing fleet. Under the diesel emissions reduction program, which comprises both national grant competitions and direct state allocations, EPA provides support for retrofits, repairs, replacements, idle reduction, cleaner fuels, innovative financing for clean technologies under the SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program, and other strategies.

There are a number of components of the Clean Diesel Program:

National Clean Diesel Program (70% of funding)

• National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program contains the majority of the funding dedicated to deployment of EPA-verified and certified technologies. This component will be administered by EPA”s regional offices.

• National Clean Diesel Emerging Technologies Program fosters the deployment of innovative technologies through a national grant competition. To qualify as an emerging technology, a manufacturer must have an EPA approved application and test plan for verification.

• SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program allows EPA to issue competitive grants to establish national low-cost revolving loans or other financing programs that will provide funding to fleets to reduce diesel emissions.

State Clean Diesel Grant Program (30% of funding)

• State Clean Diesel Grant Program makes funds directly available to States interested in establishing new diesel emission reduction programs.

Visit the EPA for more information.

Article by Roger Greenway, appearing courtesy of ENN

[photo credit: Leo-setä]

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American cars with turbochargers are currently few and far between, but that may soon be changing. While a significant and sustained increase in the price of fuel would greatly boost demand for turbochargers, auto manufacturers’ need to comply with carbon emissions and fuel economy targets will be the primary drivers of the domestic turbocharger market. When compared with cars with similar horsepower, those with turbocharged smaller engines can reduce emissions by 20 to 40 percent, and can increase fuel economy by 15 to 20 percent.

As is often the case, the U.S. lags Europe in adoption of this technology, partly because it has primarily been used with diesel engines. Turbochargers are now used in about half of all European cars. By comparison, U.S. penetration is at just five percent.

The rising CAFE requirements has convinced automakers to announce a slew of electric vehicle and hybrid models, but in coming years turbochargers are likely to get more attention as a less-costly way to increase their fleet average performance.

A few new U.S.-market cars are featuring turbochargers, which enable smaller engines (such as four cylinder engines instead of six) to approximate the power of larger engines. Ford is now running television spots to promote its EcoBoost technology, which includes a Honeywell turbocharger. EcoBoost will be showing up in the 2010 Lincoln MKS, Ford Flex, and the Taurus SHO.

We are likely to see a gradual shift to more 4-cylinder sedans that emphasize performance, as well as 6-cylinder cars replacing 8s. This “transparent downsizing” is good from a fossil fuel and emissions standpoint because even small improvements in fuel efficiency will have a much greater net impact than similar reductions in higher MPG vehicles.

Honeywell Turbo Technologies’ Vice President of Marketing David Paja projects that turbocharging will grow to 25 percent of all new vehicles in the U.S. within 5 years. Paja says the European market could grow from 50 to 70 percent during the same time. Honeywell looks to benefit from any growth as the company supplies turbochargers to most of the world’s largest automakers, including but not limited to Audi, BMW, Chery, Citroen, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, Renault, Tata and Toyota.

Paja said that Japan hasn’t been as receptive to turbochargers because of government incentives that make hybrids attractive for increasing fuel efficiency. Turbocharger company Borg-Warner is also like to get a share of an expanding market. The company recently signed a deal to supply vehicles to First Automotive Works of China.

However, turbocharging won’t do much for improving the fuel economy in the today’s compacts, which already feature smaller 4-cylinder engines. Adding turbocharging brings more power, but usually at the cost of greater fuel consumption. For example, Subaru recently announced that it is offering a turbocharged version of its Legacy sedan, which gets slightly worse gas miles (18/25) than its standard model (19/27).

For that reason, a 25 percent U.S. market share in the U.S. might be on the optimistic side. With new hybrids, EVs, and compacts coming to market, there simply won’t be enough people interested in paying the premium for diesel and performance-oriented vehicles. If there were a turbocharged 3-cylinder car on the market (like BMW’s plug-in concept), then we might see higher penetration.

Turbochargers and electric motors can work hand in hand with electric motors to satisfy power-hungry drivers. BMW’s new X-6 and Series 7 Active Hybrids will feature turbochargers and generate an impressive 480 hp. The combined cost premium of hybrid motors and turbocharging will probably exceed $5,000, but performance-minded consumers are less price sensitive.

Article appearing courtesy of Matter Network

[photo credit: Matthew Hine]

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The combination of electric motors and diesel engines has worked well in locomotives and heavy trucks for years, but carmakers haven’t been successful in getting beyond the concept car stage for light duty vehicles. Five years after I started writing about the potential for diesel hybrids, the passenger vehicle market is still relatively quiet — but that at last may change.

The premium paid for diesel engines and additional cost of an electric motor has scared off auto manufacturers. However, the two powertrains have compelling complementary performance characteristics. For city driving, electric motors (powered by batteries that recapture energy from frequent braking) provide needed acceleration. Diesel engines thrive in comparison to gasoline engines when hauling heavy loads and maintaining highway speeds.

Peugeot says that in 2011 it will bring to Europe the 3008 Hybrid4 sedan. The 2.0 liter engine vehicle is being optimized to minimize carbon emissions, with the company claiming it puts out only as much CO2 as a small city car. The company is also showcasing a plug-in RCZ HYbrid4 Concept Coupe, although that may be more eye candy than reality. Peugeot’s sister company, Citroen, will reportedly leverage the technology in the DS5 car, which could arrive in 2011.

BMW is also in the mix with a concept plug-in diesel hybrid with the Mercedes Benz has multiple diesel hybrids in the works, the S 400 BlueHYBRID due out in 2010, the C 300 BlueHYBRID, due out in 2012, and the E 300 BlueHYBRID, which may or may not come to pass.

Now none of these are likely to be high-volume cars aimed at average consumers, but they reflect a growing interest in designing vehicles that don’t skimp on performance while achieving great fuel economy. “Performance” hybrids have had mixed success thus far in the U.S. While the Lexus hybrid models have been successful, the Honda Accord Hybrid was a failure, and was discontinued after a few years.

Diesel engines continue to be mostly reserved for the truck and bus lane in the U.S., with the exceptions in 2009 passenger vehicles from Volkswagen, BMW and Audi. If VW has success in reintroducing American buyers to relatively inexpensive diesel vehicles, momentum could shift.

American attitudes toward diesel will need to embrace the new cleaner engines that can be part of the solution to reducing vehicle carbon emissions. Plug-in hybrid diesels when powered by biodiesel could be pitched as the greenest vehicles short of full electric vehicles. That would require a bold vision by one of the automakers that has had success with diesels in Europe.

Appearing courtesy of Matter Network.

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