Horizontally Opposed part 1: the future of the green automobile

BTW the title is completely unrelated, i just liked the sound of it

Since our research project about sustainable housing, it just seems right for me to look at and into sustainable, or green technologies associated with the automobile. Essentially the most ecological house and the most ecological car are quite similar in how they attain ecology. So here is a listing of the best ways to attain green auto's.

Part 1. Reducing MPG's

This is a big one, and in fact its the number one figure ecologists look at. MPG stands for miles per gallon and is a measurement of how much gallons of fuel is burned in one mile. The higher the number, the better. 23 mpg is about average, 30mpg is good, 40mpg is excellent, 60mpg+ is the stuff of champions. Now increasing MPG is quite a simple formula but, it has drawbacks.

• Reducing weight: This is the simplest method and it has worked for Lotus for ages. By lowering the weight of a car, less energy [gas] is needed to move it. The problem is, as safety regulations have risen, so has the weight of cars. For example, a 69 Chevrolet Camaro [which is quite a big car with quite a big engine and quite alot of metal] is still lighter than a 2005 VW Golf GTi [which is in comparison, quite small, with a tiny engine and a lot of plastic]. For cars 500kg is near dead anorexic, 750kg is really skinny, 1000kg is slim, 1300kg is lightweight, 1500kg is sorta average, 1800kg is fat, 2000kg is obese. Good examples of lightweight vehicles are the Smart Fortwo [730kg], Toyota iQ [860kg] and Caterham models [520kg] These use either very small packaging or really lightweight materials to ensure weight is kept low. Lightweight materials include Aluminium, Lexan [for use in windshields], carbon fibre, plastics, titanium, fibreglass, and magnesium. Unfortunately half of these do not follow the rules of recyclability.
  
  
• Aerodynamics: This is the study of airflow around a car. The idea is to lower wind resistance by shaping the car to allow wind to easily pass around it. The less wind resistance, the less work an engine has to do. The problem with aerodynamics, is that the most aerodynamic vehicles aren't always the most practical [or beautiful]. Wind resistance is measured in Cd [coefficient of drag] 0.7 is really bad, 0.5 is about what a truck gets, 0.3 is average 0.2 is good, 0.1 is excellent. Cars that pull off good aerodynamics yet don't look like a fish are: Tatra T77 0.212[nearly 80 years old and still is the most aerodynamic car ever produced] 2010 Toyota Prius 0.25 and Mercedes Benz E Class 0.28
  
  
• Hybrids: This is the biggest craze in the auto world. It takes the best of the electric motors and mix it with the practicality of a gasoline engine. Hybrids come in 3 flavors [in order of most efficient]: Series, Parallel and Mild. Parallel is the most common where either the electric or gasoline motor powers the wheels. Mild hybrids only use a feature which shuts off the engine during engine idling, this is the simplest hybrid and the easiest to fit on to current engines. Series Hybrids are actually electric cars with a gas motor acting as a generator to charge the batteries. All hybrids are complex and in most cases use batteries which are either heavy, expensive, contain harmful materials or all of the above.
  
  
• Smarter Engines: By advancing technology in the traditional combustion engine, efficiency can be gained without the addition of complicating hybrids. New technologies in engine design promise efficiency without drawbacks such as: displacement on demand [a system that can shut down up to half of the engine under low loads] direct injection [a system that better mixes the fuel for combustion] and zero cam [a system that completely controls the flow of air and exhaust in the engine]
  
  
• Alternative Fuels: By using alternative fuels, although in some cases MPGs will be reduced, it essentially gives the same effect of using less gasoline. Problems include compatibility with modern engines and distribution around the world. Examples include:
  Ethanol/methanol/ethanol: alcohol based fuels, typically produce more power than standard gasoline but less mpg
  Diesel: gasoline based but more efficient, power usually less
  Biodiesel: works like diesel but usually based on used cooking oil
  Hydrogen: not very economical to get and difficult to store
  Propane: least compatible with modern engines
  Electricity: this counts as alternative fueling, problem is batteries take long to charge. Also as with hybrids, batteries tend to be either heavy, polluting or expensive.
  
• Other: Transmissions take away most of the engines power, in traditional automatics, a device called the torque converter eats up about 10% of the engine's power. Switching to transmissions without torque converters [manual gearboxes, CVTs and double clutch gearboxes] helps to cut that power loss. Reducing the electrical load on a vehicle also helps. The engine loses power as it charges the battery of the car; by using solar panels and devices such as LEDs helps to lower the electrical load. Another system is regenerative braking which uses the rotation of the wheels under braking to charge the batteries. The engine is also ladened by other pumps and pulleys. By removing these and converting them to run on electric pumps, the engine in turn is burdened by only one pulley which will provide energy to all of them

That was a mouthful and much longer than expected...... anyways, until next time...