Friday, April 8, 2011

Good morning,

Much of the world is still clinging to the fantasy that bio-
fuels will solve the energy crisis. But with many countries
in a headlong rush into green fuel development, food prices
have risen sharply in recent months.

Each year, an ever larger portion of the world's crops such
as cassava and corn, sugar and palm oil is being diverted
for biofuels as developed countries pass laws mandating
greater use of nonfossil fuels and as emerging powerhouses
like China seek new sources of energy to keep their cars and
industries running.

This year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization reported that its index of food prices was the
highest in its more than 20 years of existence.


Maybe the answer isn't turning food into fuel, but finding
a more efficient way to use the best resource currently
available, namely oil.

The internal combustion engine is, after all, over 100
years old. Maybe it's time for a complete redesign. An
innovation.

Thanks for reading,

Your Living Green editor

Email the Editor


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Despite shifting into higher gear within the consumer's green
conscience, hybrid vehicles are still tethered to the gas
pump via a fuel-thirsty 100-year-old invention: the internal
combustion engine.

However, researchers at Michigan State University have built
a prototype gasoline engine that requires no transmission,
crankshaft, pistons, valves, fuel compression, cooling systems
or fluids. Their so-called Wave Disk Generator could greatly
improve the efficiency of gas-electric hybrid automobiles and
potentially decrease auto emissions up to 90 percent when
compared with conventional combustion engines.

The engine has a rotor that's equipped with wave-like channels
that trap and mix oxygen and fuel as the rotor spins. These
central inlets are blocked off, building pressure within the
chamber, causing a shock wave that ignites the compressed air
and fuel to transmit energy.

The Wave Disk Generator uses 60 percent of its fuel for
propulsion; standard car engines use just 15 percent. As a
result, the generator is 3.5 times more fuel efficient than
typical combustion engines.

Researchers estimate the new model could shave almost 1,000
pounds off a car's weight currently taken up by conventional
engine systems.