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By Erin Rogers and Spencer Quong
From families to farmers, drivers across the nation have said that they want cars and trucks that counter the health, economic, and environmental threats posed by global warming pollution. The technologies and fuels that could bring these cleaner cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and minivans to the American public already exist. In addition, landmark standards set into law by California and adopted by 10 other states actually require automakers to start making vehicles that emit less global warming pollution. Unfortunately, automakers are suing to block these laws instead of building the cleaner vehicles Americans want.
Vehicle engineers at the Union of Concerned Scientists set out to show drivers what they’re missing by developing a minivan blueprint that meets California’s global warming emission standards using existing technologies and fuels. The result, the UCS Vanguard, would save money at the pump while maintaining the levels of safety and performance that drivers have come to expect. The Vanguard proves that building cleaner, more climate-friendly vehicles does not require radical changes in vehicle design—or even hybrid technology.
The Building Blocks of a Cleaner Car
Many cars and trucks on the road today already use at least one of the emission-reducing components used in the Vanguard, but none come close to matching its potential benefits. These components include:
Improved engine
• Cylinder deactivation shuts down up to half the cylinders in a large engine when full power is not needed.
• Variable valve lift and timing reduces engine losses by better controlling the flow of air and fuel into the engine, leading to more efficient combustion and better performance.
• Stoichiometric direct injection reduces global warming emissions by injecting gasoline directly into the combustion chamber rather than the intake manifold, which enables optimal mixing of the fuel and air in the compression chamber.
• Turbocharging uses heat from the vehicle’s exhaust to compress the air entering the engine. This increases the engine’s power output, allowing a smaller engine to be used.
Greener fuels. “Flexible fuel” technology allows a vehicle to run on either pure gasoline or a mixture of gasoline and up to 85 percent ethanol, which reduces global warming emissions. The amount of reduction depends on the source of the ethanol; corn-based ethanol, for example, reduces emissions 10 to 20 percent compared with gasoline, while “cellulosic” ethanol (made from grasses, wood, or agricultural wastes) could potentially deliver as much as an 80 to 90 percent reduction.
Advanced transmissions
• The transmission propels a vehicle forward by transferring power (via gears) from the engine to the wheels. The addition of more gears—six in this case—allows the engine to operate more efficiently and can improve performance.
• Automated manual transmissions allow the direct transfer of power from the engine to the transmission without the interruption associated with a manual clutch, combining the efficiency of a manual transmission with the convenience of an automatic transmission.
Improved air conditioning. Improved hoses and better connections can significantly reduce the amount of hydrofluorocarbons—powerful global warming pollutants—that leak from a vehicle’s air conditioning system. Switching to a less harmful refrigerant will also help; HFC-152a, for example, has a much lower global warming potential than common hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants such as HFC-134a (which is 1,300 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide).
Load reduction
• Redesigning a vehicle’s size and shape with better aerodynamics in mind can reduce drag 10 to 15 percent, allowing the engine to work less hard.
• Tires with low rolling resistance use improved materials and tread design to reduce the amount of energy wasted as a vehicle’s tires roll down the road, but maintain the comfort and stability provided by less efficient tires.
• Upgrading mechanical components such as power steering and air conditioning with more energy-efficient electrical components can also reduce engine load and, in turn, global warming emissions. Coupling these components with a high-efficiency advanced alternator can reduce emissions even further.
A Vehicle for Driving Change
Scientists have concluded that we must reduce our heat-trapping emissions to 20 percent of their current level by mid-century if we want to avoid the most dangerous consequences of global warming. Because passenger vehicles account for a significant share of these emissions—about 25 percent of the U.S. total—reducing their emissions will be crucial to achieving the larger goal. The Vanguard would emit 43 percent less heat-trapping pollution than the average vehicle on the road today—using technology that is already available. What’s more, the Vanguard technology and fuel package could be applied to every class of vehicles to achieve similar savings on both global warming emissions and fuel costs. Technologies on the horizon promise even greater reductions.
It’s time for automakers to stop devoting their resources to lawsuits and start using their know-how to create safe, affordable, and cleaner cars and trucks. To learn more about the Vanguard and call on the automakers to build cleaner vehicles, visit the UCS website at www.ucsusa.org/UCSVanguard.
Erin Rogers is California outreach coordinator for UCS. Spencer Quong is a senior analyst in the UCS Clean Vehicles Program.
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