Green Energy News | March 3, 1997

March 3 ,1997 – Vol.1 No.48

ENERGIES... week of March 3, 1997

LASER LIGHT’S PURE ENERGY is now possible in colors. The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has developed a laser that shines light in four colors - red, green, orange and blue. Charged ions’ impurities in zirconium fluoride glass when excited by infrared laser light help create the colors.

The colorful laser light could be used in future projection screens or in laser optical storage devices.

ETHANOL WINS WHILE METHANOL LOSES in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority clean air competition. Corrosive methanol raising havoc with LA’s 330 alcohol fueled buses forced engine rebuilds at less than 50,000 miles on average. After six years of experimentation the city spent some $17 million to convert the buses to more gentle ethanol. LA has also purchased 100 Detroit Diesel 6V-92 ethanol engines for use in them.

To date the ethanol buses are getting better fuel economy than they did when burning methanol. LA is experimenting with various blends of ethanol - E-95 with 5% unleaded gasoline added and another blend with 5% methanol and 2% isopropyl alcohol. Alcohol fuels must be denatured with an additive to make them undrinkable. Ethanol is often preferred by alternative fuel advocates as it can be produced from a host of raw materials from biomass to corn.

ISUZU MOTORS of Japan may be supplying its new all-aluminum V-6 direct injection diesel to General Motors of Europe. Available in 2.5 and 3.0 liter versions, the compact and lightweight engine could find its way into the engine bays of front wheel drive cars.

Europeans are bullish on fuel-thrifty diesel passenger cars. Imported to the American market, a direct injection 4 cylinder diesel, available in the Volkswagen line-up, puts V-dubs in 4 of the top 10 slots for fuel misers in the U.S. for 1997.

EV’S WILL INCREASE SEMICONDUCTOR market potential according to marketing consultants Frost and Sullivan. With concerns for the environment and investment by most major car builders, electric cars are likely to gain a strong foothold in the world-wide car market in the coming century. High powered semiconductors are used in motor functions and in the charging circuits of EV’s.