Not that long ago gas prices were low, under two dollars per gallon, the economy was good and there were not many worries in the eye of the public. In recent decades our needs as humans have overcome the needs of the environment, burning fossil fuels to no end drying up any oil fields we have left. Today the public has taken notice of these effects we are having on the environment. In order to counteract our previous damage we must study and develop more ways to sustain the energy we do create. Sustainability is currently a big topic of discussion within the science and technology world. One branch currently developing new technology is the automobile industry.
Newly developed hybrid cars have seemingly been a small success. Other areas include the hydrogen car, cars that run on natural vegetable oils, and even tires that are suppose to help add fuel mileage to the car.
Hybrid Car
A hybrid car works off of a fairly simple concept. Along with the standard gasoline combustion engine there is an electric motor, a generator, and series of batteries to store excess power. How does it work? The electric motor is used to place resistance against the wheels, acting as a brake and slow down the car. In return the spinning wheels turn the generator which supply’s power to the storage batteries which power the electric motor. The electric motor enables itself in several typical driving stations. For example, when the car comes to a rest it turns off the gasoline engine and relies on the electric engine, cutting back on CO2 emissions and adding gas mileage. During acceleration the electric motor provides backup power further helping improve CO2 emissions and better gas mileage.
Although hydrogen cars have been researched and studied for decades they have not yet found a commercially viable way to produce and safely transport. Another recent development was in the use of vegetable based oils to power combustion engines. Any diesel engine can be transformed rather easily into a “green”, eco friendly vegetable oil combustion engine. The problem with vegetable oil is that while it is easy to produce it isn’t exactly possible to produce enough vegetable oil to run most American families off of.
Vegtable may be used to power combustion engines
Simple research has show that there are other, effective ways to increase gas mileage among a standard gasoline engine. Drive the speed limit, (generally) the faster you drive the higher rpm’s the engine is running, thus burning more fuel than may be needed. You may also want to make sure that your tires are blown up to the right pressure (in lbs), if it is low the miles per gallon will decrease. Keeping the engine and other parts maintained is important as well.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drive.shtml
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybridtech.shtml
http://www.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm