How To Save The Environment While Operating Your Motor Vehicle

There are many steps you can take to help out the environment while operating your vehicle. Here are some easy tips that will make a huge impact on Mother Earth's survival. If every vehicle owner in the world followed some or all of these practices the world would be a cleaner place.

Recycling plays a huge part with motor vehicles when it comes to engine oil, antifreeze and parts. One can only imagine how many millions of gallons of oil gets used in vehicles every year. Once recycled, that oil supplies millions of motor vehicles all over again rather than being dumped on the ground. The same goes for antifreeze which is toxic and can contaminate soil for decades.

Car parts are better off being repaired but if you must replace a part, make sure the old part is returned to the vendor so you can get the core charge back in your wallet. If you try and throw the part in the garbage you don't get your core charge money back. That's a great incentive program.

Stick to regular maintenance tips like servicing your battery and rotating tires. These practices extend their life and decrease replacement intervals. Remanufactured parts cost much less than new parts and take less energy (emissions) to produce compared to original equipment manufacturerd parts.

Head down to the local car wash to wash your car. The soaps and waxes you use could end up down the storm drain. Car washes use much less water which is recycled and treated (federal regulations) before entering the regular water supply.

For the extra conscientious motorist: synthetic oil, long life antifreeze and organic brake pads (if applicable to your vehicle) are great ways to extend replacement intervals. Oil change intervals can go 3 times longer, extended antifreeze will last for hundreds of thousands of miles & organic brake pads won't harm the environment as they wear down.

So as you can see there is a way to contribute to saving our environment if you drive a motor vehicle. Little steps add up to big ones and if everyone contributed we would end up with one heck of a big footprint.

Happy Motoring!

Diesel & Gasoline Working Together?

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine pictured has a thermal efficiency of 50% (the best in the world). There is new research going on in the University of Wisconsin, Madison that got 53% thermal efficiency out of a Cat Diesel Engine.

I just read the article about this new technology mixing gasoline and diesel into a diesel engine. This system increases the thermal efficiency by 20% but reduces the temperature in the combustion chamber by 40% creating less unburned fuel out the tail pipe.

The mix would be computer controlled and since there would be less energy loss through heat transfer, improved combustion would cause an increase in power with less emissions.

The computer age has allowed scientists and researchers to stretch the resources we have right now to the limit in a very efficient way. Without computer programming, monitoring, and adjusting operating parameters this new technical solution for decreasing vehicle emissions would not be possible.
I hope you found this Mechanic Information interesting...

California Cleaning Up School Bus Emissions on Diesel Engines

California school districts in the southcoast area are doing a major clean up on diesel engine buses in 13 school districts at the cost of 43 million dollars. They are going to start runniing them on compressed natural gas and propane.

This measure was implemented by the Air Quality Management District. Approxamately 176 newer buses will get particulate trapping devices as well at a cost of 3 million dollars. I'm impressed with the seriousness of the California Gov't to clean up the air but the expense is unbelievable.

Read the full article HERE

Our fleet of 75 school buses come with diesel emission controlled engines that the factories have spent millions of dollars on already. The buses are equipped with particulate filters from factory and they do an excellent job. It will take a long time to change over to Propane and natural gas due to the expense.