With the lack of rail roads, most of the long-distance hauling
that needs to be done in the US is done by trucks, and
truckers are chafing at
high gas
prices. One problem is that big trucks, unlike cars, are not
aerodynamic?there hasn't been a major design change in
years.
Researcher Robert Englar has some ideas about how to
improve things. The real problem is the trailers (the big
square boxes that are hitched to the cab, where the driver
sits). Englar think that something as simple as rounding the
edges and installing covers over the tops of the wheels could
help.
In LiveScience.com, Robert Roy Britt quotes Englar as
saying, "Aerodynamically, we have resolved unknowns raised
in earlier testing, and the next step is to get this into a fleet
of trucks for more extensive testing. At highway speeds,
each 1% improvement in fuel economy would result in saving
about 200 million gallons of fuel for the US heavy truck fleet."
Oregon is experimenting with producing electricity using
cow
manure. If we could solve two problems at once by creating
truck fuel from pig manure, a waste product overflowing at
US farms, would truckers use it? Chemist Tom Bruno
says, "The fact that pig manure crude oil contains a lot of
water is unfavorable. They would need to get the water out."
Englar's team has also developed high-tech ideas to improve
truck mileage, such as devices that blow air from slots at the
rear in order smooth the air flow. If truckers start using pig
poop for fuel, these air fumes will really be something! As
Bruno says, "This stuff smells worse than manure."
Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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