Environmentally Friendly Reasons To Choose A Hybrid

Whether OPEC likes it or not, hybrid owners are changing the landscape for car sales and automobile ownership. The process has been slow. Many people were not and are still not ready to pay the extra money to buy a hybrid. Some fear that technology will bypass the hybrid in the next couple of years, making their purchase a bad investment. Many people do not want to be the first one to buy a strange, new technology, just like when the regular car came into existence. Others have found that tax incentives and saving money on gas are the best reasons to go hybrid. For most hybrid buyers, however, the environmental reasons to buy one have outweighed any other reasons or any negative fallout that is present now or foreseeable in the future.

1. Emissions: With all the news about high gas prices and people across the country feeling the effects in their pockets, having a hybrid sounds like a great idea. Hybrids are super-efficient with their use of gas because they rely on electricity for some of their power. This has made it possible for hybrids to get great mileage. The environmental impact is phenomenal. Hybrids use less gas sending fewer emissions into the air. Chemicals from dioxide, to nitrogen oxide all get into the air with gas cars. Although hybrids still emit some fumes and toxic elements, they are performing so well that the EPA has made special ratings for them because they are putting about 90% fewer emissions into the air.

2. Getting Gas: Acquiring gas has become a major concern for the entire world. Having to build more refineries to produce gas will only put more chemicals into the air. Finding places to get oil are also becoming harder to find. Many have objected to the government’s desire to drill in the protected parks of Alaska. Depending less on oil helps contributes to less destruction of our natural resources.

3. Effects on the Human Environment: When emissions get churned into the air, the environment is not the only place that suffers. The human body does not take well to the excessive amounts of carbon dioxide, lead and other chemicals that gas-guzzling cars use. Sitting in traffic, one experiences the odors alone that carry the cancer causing agents. All of the chemicals produced by emissions have been linked to cancer, birth defects and a number of other preventable conditions.

4. Ride the Environmental Wave: Many people say that buying a hybrid is a great idea, but not everyone buys one. It is hard to blame people, since the cost is thousands of dollars more than for a regular car, but for those who are taking the first steps, they are contributing to environmental awareness. Choosing a hybrid helps the market get the price down, which allows for more people to buy them. Buying a hybrid is one of the best ways to get the environmental domino effect moving.

5. Encourage the Government: Buying a hybrid car is beginning to get some encouragement from the government. Known for being dependant on foreign oil for years, the Federal government is beginning to see the benefits of hybrid cars being on the market and is offering tax credits through the end of 2006. Each person that buys a hybrid can be eligible for up to a $2,000 credit on their tax return. When more and more hybrids are purchased, it is likely that the government will consider the environment in its decisions.

Numerous other reasons to buy hybrids are being offered by the makers of hybrids, those who have already purchased one, and by dealerships. To many, any issues that makers are having with the production of hybrids seem like less of a problem than finding real ways to stay green. Emissions and efficiency have come to the forefront of people’s minds more and more as gas prices rise. People are starting to be more concerned about the effects of high emissions on their health, and their future grandchildren. Choosing a hybrid makes a huge statement to the government and to other consumers. More and more people are beginning to “choose green” when they buy a vehicle, which encourages more people that doing so is the right way to go.

Don’t Miss your Future! – Learn About Biodiesel, and Why it is Important Now

You probably know by now the hard condition of the Earth’s climate, and the rapid increase in oil prices, that will doom our society to devastating energy prices. It is also possible that you already heard about many solutions offered to this problem, by entering alternative energy, based on renewable resources to the equation.

If you are smart you most likely understand that most of these solutions are not achievable in the near future. The reason for that is that most alternatives, like solar power, wind energy or nuclear power, require a huge revolution in the entire energy market, that will take many years to realize. Nevertheless, let me introduce to you one alternative energy source that is already available, easy to get, and do not require an enormous change in today’s transportation or industry.

The new source is Biodiesel. this bombastic word is just a nick name to a new fuel that is based on vegetable oil that was cheaply chemically modified to be a cleaner, better replacement to diesel engines fuel.

Vegetable oil, that is easily manufactured from general crops, contain a large amount of fatty acids from biological (plant or animal) source, hence the word bio-diesel. In order to release the fatty acids from the oil, all you have to do is to react the oil with some chemical catalyst, to run a reaction called trans-esthrification (don’t worry – it is much easier than you think…) and then separate the product – fatty acids from the garbage – glycerol (that can also be used for other things as well…).

And that’s it! once you have the fatty acids, you can fuel diesel engine with it, and start driving. This amazing fuel, is more efficient, cleaner, and with today’s oil prices, can be even cheaper.

A Closer Look at the Gm Hydrogen4

General Motors Corporation aims to showcase its fourth generation fuel cell technology in Europe with the launch of the HydroGen4 model, a revised version of Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell that is bound for the European market.

“Fuel cell propulsion with hydrogen as a fuel highlights General Motors’ commitment to take the car out of the environmental debate and reduce our dependency on oil. HydroGen4 is powered by GM’s most advanced fuel cell system and marks an important milestone on the road toward completely emission-free, competitive fuel cell technology in the automobile. The HydroGen4 features considerable progress in everyday usability, dynamics and system durability compared to its predecessor.” says Carl-Peter Forster, President of GM Europe.

Mr. Forster added:

“The Fuel Cell Activities (FCA) research division with over 600 employees is currently being integrated into regular series development, giving it key importance within the concern. We are thus preparing for the series production of fuel cell technology.”

The GM HydroGen4 is scheduled to be unveiled at the upcoming 2007 International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt this September. HydroGen4 is equipped with a fuel cell stack that consists of 440 series-connected cells. Fuel cells convert chemical energy into electrical energy without combustion through the process of electro-chemical reaction, which combines hydrogen and oxygen to form water and produce electricity as well. This power line can produce 93 kW of electrical output, combined with the 73 kW/100 hp coming from an electric motor. This powertrain package allows the GM HydroGen4 to sprint from a stand still up to 62 miles per hour in about 12 seconds with an electronically limited maximum speed of approximately 100 mph.

In addition, the GM HydroGen4 also comes with 700-bar high-pressure tanks made from carbon fiber composite material. These tanks can hold up to 4.2 kg of compressed hydrogen fuel, providing the GM HydroGen4 with 199 miles (320 km) of driving range. GM has been working with two versions of this mode: one powered by liquid hydrogen and the other with compressed hydrogen. But GM is now only focusing on the compressed hydrogen version. Dr. Udo Winter, Director, GME Fuel Cell Activities explains: “The main reason for this is the unavoidable ‘boil off’ that occurs with liquid hydrogen. Even with optimum insulation, the tank’s contents warm up slowly, so that the liquid hydrogen vaporizes and the pressure in the tank increases. After a few days, gaseous hydrogen has to be released from the parked vehicle, leading to a loss in fuel. There are no such vapor losses (“boil off”) with compressed gas, however.”

Moreover, the new fuel cell propulsion system of the GM HydroGen4 comes with a nickel-metal-hydride buffer battery. This helps the entire powertrain system to gain more power output and enables regenerative braking. This feature allows the battery to be recharged using the energy produced when braking.

Other features of the GM HydroGen4 include driver and passenger frontal air bags, roof rail side-impact air bags, ABS, traction control, StabiliTrak (ESP), just to name the few. GM will reveal other features of this model at the IAA Frankfurt. GM will unveil other production and concept models in Frankfurt like the Saab Turbo X equipped with Saab clutch discs.

Vw Tdi Performance- Building a Beast

As with building up any vehicle for power, vw tdi performance starts with the basic modifications first. The vw tdi will get its biggest two gains out of a tdi chip or module and out of tdi injectors. Your average chip or module upgrade will give about a 20% power increase. A tdi injector upgrade usually yields about a 20% gain as well. If the right combination of tdi chip/module and injectors are used even more will be gained. i.e. (Van Aaken Smartbox & Van Aaken Smart Power Nozzles) Those are the most basic vw tdi performance upgrades.

Another basic vw tdi performance modification is the tdi exhaust. If you are going to increase fueling you will in turn increase EGT’s (exhaust gas temperatures). So to keep temperatures lower and to help increase performance of the vw tdi even more, one of two things can be done. One a mufflerectomy can be performed in which the muffler and resonator are removed and a straight pipe is put in their place. This opens things up a little and removes the baffling of the muffler so that the exhaust can flow more freely. The second tdi exhaust option is the aero turbine muffler. The inner design of the muffler works the same as a jet engine to increase the flow of exhaust even more than what a mufflerectomy does. The inner design splits the air via an air foil. The faster air moves through the center and the slower air moves around the outside of the air foil, the slower moving air then re-enters the main air stream through inlets that go down the sides of the mufflers inner cylinder. This recombining creates a vortex that lowers the tone of the exhaust and dramatically reduces back pressure by increasing the flow of all the exhaust that moves through it.

Increasing air flow into the engine will help more of the fuel to be combusted and to help extract more power out of each molecule of fuel. Most cold air intakes have a large cone air filter that is able to move up to 300% more air than the stock air intake system. This makes the cold air intake an important part of any vw tdi performance package, sadly though cold air intakes are not currently made for all the vw tdi models. Another modification that helps with air intake and exhaust is water methanol injection. Water methanol injection is also known as chemical intercooling. It has a three fold effect on the diesel engine. It cools the intake charge which provides for more available air intake and the benefits of a higher positive pressure ratio (more power giving fuel can be utilized safely without high combustion temperatures). Two, the combustion of water also adds power and three; methanol is also a high octane fuel that adds more power. Water methanol injection typically lowers EGT’s by about 200 to 250 degrees on bigger diesels and is slightly under that for the vw tdi.

So in conclusion, to be able to build a real beast the modifications must be made from the ground up. After these mods are made then a bigger turbo and intercooler could be added as well as upgrading the clutch and other components to help hold the added power.

Providing Proper Care For Your Auto Wheels And Truck Wheels

Aesthetics aside, there are many reasons why you should always take the time and effort to maintain your auto wheels or truck wheels. Of course, many drivers would state aesthetics as being a major factor in motivating them to perform tasks such as washing their cars, including their wheels.

The truth, however, is that proper care is extremely important when it comes to auto wheels and truck wheels. This is because your auto wheels or truck wheels are the components of your vehicle that experience the greatest wear-and-tear on a regular basis. In order to prevent your auto wheels and truck wheels being adversely affected by that wear-and-year, there are a few precautions you need to take.

The first is that cleaning your auto wheels or truck wheels is a very important task. This is because dirt, grime, mud, and other waste particles tend to adhere to the surfaces of your wheels, forming small spots and ridges of accumulated dirt and grime. These spots and ridges create moisture traps, where water from the road and in the form of rain or fog is trapped and accumulates. The accumulation of water is dangerous because it will eventually lead to pitting of your auto wheels or truck wheels, resulting in corrosion over time.

Corrosion is definitely something to be avoided at all costs, as it weakens the structural integrity of your auto wheels or truck wheels, and might cause them to break and collapse. Should that happen while you are driving along the roads, you would almost certainly be involved in a major accident that could endanger your life.

The simple way to help prevent such corrosion from taking place is simply to clean your auto wheels and truck wheels on a regular basis. A good rule of thumb to follow is that your wheels should receive a cleaning at least once a week. And when you clean your auto wheels or truck wheels, there are also some things you need to keep in mind.

The first is never to use harsh detergents or cleaning chemicals when cleaning your wheels. This is because most wheels are coated with a protective layer or coating that helps to prevent corrosion and harsh chemicals will cause this coating to be worn away more quickly, resulting in greater risk of corrosion.

Also, you should never wash your auto wheels or truck wheels while they are still hot. Hot wheels experience expansion due to the added heat being applied to the metal of the rims. If you use cold water to wash your wheels while they are still hot, the metal will experience a rapid contraction, resulting in pitting of the protective layer covering your rims and eventually allowing corrosion to take place.

Your auto wheels or truck wheels are among the most important components of your vehicle, so you should definitely take the time and effort to keep them in proper working order. Some lost time is a small price to pay to ensure your safety while driving on the roads.