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Department of
Energy to Pursue Improved Vehicle Efficiency Research
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary
Samuel W. Bodman recently announced that the Department will
grant approximately $21.5 million for 11 cost-shared
research and development projects that seek to improve the
fuel efficiency of light-duty vehicles engines.
The projects will focus on improving fuel
utilization in ethanol-powered engines (optimization),
developing advanced lubrication systems, and researching
high efficiency, clean combustion engines. DOE says these
projects will help advance President Bush's 20-in-10
Initiative, which calls for displacing 20 percent of
gasoline usage by 2017 through increased use of clean,
renewable fuels, and improved vehicle efficiency.
Seven of the 11 projects, totaling $15.3
million, will focus specifically on enhancing flexible-fuel
engines and light-duty vehicles that run on ethanol-gasoline
blends up to 85 percent ethanol by volume (E-85). Research
in this area will seek to take advantage of favorable
properties of ethanol blends without reducing gasoline fuel
efficiency. Currently, flex-fuel vehicles are optimized for
gasoline use, not ethanol use; therefore, because of
ethanol’s lower energy density, there is an energy penalty.
Caterpillar Inc. was the sole recipient of
project funding dedicated to developing an environmentally
friendly lubricant additive for enhancing an engine’s fuel
efficiency. The company will partner with DOE’s Argonne
National Laboratory, NanoMech LLC, and the University of
Arkansas to pursue this effort.
The final three projects, dedicated to
developing advanced combustion engines for light-duty
vehicles, will receive a total funding of $5.7 million.
Companies chosen to pursue this research will take advantage
of complementary properties among combustion, fuels, and
emission control technologies to develop clean,
high-efficiency engines.
Totaling almost $43 million when combined
with industry, the 11 projects aim to improve the engine of
a Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV) by increasing performance and
fuel economy and decreasing emissions for the next
generation of efficient vehicles. Funding will begin this
year (Fiscal Year 2007, $3.1 million) and continue through
FY2010 (FY'08 - $8.6 million; FY'09 - $7.4 million; FY'10 -
$2.6 million), subject to appropriations from Congress.
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