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Clemson International Center for Automotive Research, has served as a hub and a symbol of the South's emergence over the last two decades as a powerhouse in automotive manufacturing.

A 2007 industry-wide event, part of the Tennessee Valley Corridor Southeast Partnership, was designed to bring together the region's collective transportation research talent to focus on ways to support continued growth of the automotive industry.

The gathering was symbolic of a growing realization that in matters of economic development, the South has learned the importance of teamwork. In the case of transportation, this regional teamwork has resulted in the cooperation of lawmakers, business leaders and research institutions on a broad array of initiatives, from creating new fuels to helping the world's auto manufacturers build lighter, stronger, more energyefficient cars and trucks.

ORNL Leader in Transportation Research

Oak Ridge National Laboratory for years has been the leader in transportation research for the Department of Energy's energy efficiency programs. More recently, the Laboratory has sought to connect to the growing automotive presence in the Southeast. The region is now home to 3,000 automotive suppliers and 10 major automotive assembly plants including Toyota in Kentucky and Mississippi; BMW in South Carolina; Ford in Georgia; Mercedes, Hyundai and Honda in Alabama, as well as Saturn and Nissan—which recently relocated U.S. headquarters to Nashville—in Tennessee.

Universities and ORNL Provide Research for Supply Chain, Sustainable Manufacturing, Heavy Vehicle Research, Power Electronics, Engines and High-Performance Materials

Surrounding these plants is a set of universities that, along with ORNL, represent extensive expertise in supply chain management, sustainable manufacturing, heavy vehicle research, power electronics, engines and high-performance materials. In 2007, ORNL and the University of Tennessee, along with six southern research universities, announced the Automotive Research Alliance, a regional effort to provide southern automakers access to unique research capabilities.

Research capabilities outside automakers' own R&D organizations are crucial to development of new technologies and products, says Tom Bologa, vice president of engineering, United States, for BMW of North America. 

Detroit Center Coordinates ORNL, DOE, DOD and Automotive Suppliers

Although the South's largest research laboratory, ORNL is not restricting automotive research efforts to the Southeast. The Department of Energy recently announced an initiative headquartered at automotive supplier Delphi Automotive's former R&D center in Detroit that pulls together ORNL, DOE, the Department of Defense and a consortium of automotive suppliers. Called USAutoPARTs, the effort will provide both expertise and facilities to second- and third-tier automotive suppliers, most of which cannot afford a program of in-house research.

SOURCE: ORNL overview of automotive alternative energy research

Further proof that the pioneering spirit is alive and well in The Last Frontier, the City of Unalaska’s Department of Public Utilities is the first off-grid* power plant in Alaska to install fuel saving technology that is expected to save over 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel emissions from entering the atmosphere this year. In addition to reduced emissions, the fuel consumption savings can be passed on to consumers through lower costs to generate electricity.

“The more fuel prices rise, the greater the savings we will pass on to our customers by using this fuel saving technology,” said Dan Winters, the Director of public utilities at the City of Unalaska’s Department of Public Utilities. “We made a commitment to this community to operate our generators in the most cost efficient manner possible and in doing so, go green and stay green, and this is a great solution to help clean up the environment while simultaneously reducing our fuel consumption and costs.”

The fuel saving technology is called the Etorus FE, and it is changing the way diesel engine operators save on fuel consumption and costs, while reducing greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions. It is currently being used throughout the world to reduce fuel consumption and emissions in a number of applications, including fleet trucks, buses, locomotives, generators, boilers, furnaces, marine vessels and heavy off-road construction and mining equipment. For more information, visit http://www.etorus.com/how.html

“This technology is different from any other fuel saving device. It causes clustered fuel molecules to temporarily repel each other, resulting in a greater surface area that is exposed to oxygen at the point of combustion,” explains chemist Robert E. Yelin, Ph.D., an environmental management consultant and Etorus, Inc. advisory board member who helped develop the technology.

“Studies document how this technology causes some saturated aliphatics to release hydrogen gas and form unsaturated aromatics. The hydrogen gas that results from the formation of the unsaturated ‘double bonds’ complements the increased oxygen at the point of combustion, providing an additional combustion source to the fuel, which further aids in providing a more complete and efficient fuel burn.” The turbulence caused by the Etorus FE internally enhances these reactions, Dr. Yelin adds. For more information, visit http://www.etorus.com/tech_write_up.html

“Our initial response was that this was just another snake oil product, but when we further investigated, read the research results, and then checked the company’s references, we decided to try it,” said Jim Fitch, the City of Unalaska’s power plant supervisor. “We continually monitor our fuel consumption by employing advanced technology including flow meters, and after the first week, it had dropped by more than 5%, which is a huge savings when you use more than 2 million gallons of fuel every year. At today’s fuel prices, this translates to $0.20 per gallon in fuel savings for our city, which will amount to about $2 million over five years. We were so excited when we first saw the results that we kept checking every hour to see how much more fuel we had saved. Now after four months, we are consistently saving over 5% in fuel consumption and costs while reducing our emissions.”

For more information about the City of Unalaska, visit http://unalaska-ak.us

*Off-grid refers to self-sufficient utility power made available in urban areas by means other than reliance on large public utilities.