|
|
(NewsUSA) - While environmentalists celebrate the signing of a landmark energy bill that will increase fuel economy standards on all vehicles from 26.4 miles per gallon (mpg) to 35 mpg, you are probably thinking about how this will affect your wallet.
Through this recent bill, President Bush signed into law a 40 percent increase in required fuel economy.
The president called the legislation a "major step toward reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulation requires each car manufacturer to meet a standard for the sales-weighted fuel economy for the entire fleet of vehicles sold in the U.S. in each model year.
The future CAFE standards will apply to the entire fleet of vehicles manufactured in the U.S. up to 10,000 pounds. They should be set, starting with Model Year 2011, until the standards achieve a combined average fuel economy of 35 mpg.
Currently, cars and light trucks with two- and four-wheel-drives have individual standards. However, the newly signed bill allows for a standard increase that is applied to the entire U.S. fleet.
The new law also requires an increased use of ethanol, a cleaner burning, yet less efficient fuel. With the use of ethanol, these newer vehicles might not see much improvement in gas mileage.
Pulsed power, already in use by Pulstar pulse plugs for aftermarket spark plug replacements, is an enabling technology that can be used in combination with proprietary engine designs, now being developed by car manufacturers, to offset the reduced efficiency of ethanol fuel or to boost the efficiency of regular fuels.
The stored energy discharged by the pulse plug was previously wasted as heat in the current plug ignition system.
Once pulse plugs are installed in your car, they'll allow the transition to bio-fuel to be smoother.
While ethanol will presumably burn cleaner, it will not be as efficient as gasoline and will require you to fill up more often. Pulse plugs can offset that necessity, allowing each of us to drive our cars farther on a gallon of bio-fuel.
If you have any questions about what you can do to help your car run more smoothly using pulse plugs, please visit www.pulstar.com.