Filed under: Green Culture, Hybrid, Saturn
Saturn Provides Environmental Focus and Fun to Washington D.C. Consumers
If you're in the Washington, DC area October 26-29, 2006, you may want to go check out the Saturn Greenhouses. Saturn will be sponsoring three special environmental displays in conjunction with the Marine Corps Marathon. The greenhouses will be set up at Union Station, the Reagan Building and the Marine Corps Marathon Expo center. Sam Grawe of Dwell Magazine will be speaking at the Union Station greenhouse at 4:30pm on the 26th about "Sustainability and Architectural Design". There will be live music from local musicians, a kids Arts & Scraps car building activity with recycled materials, organic food cooking demos, environmental demonstrations, tree seeding giveaways and a special relaxation station at the Marathon Expo site.
As you might expect from such and event, General Motors will be prominently displaying one of their newest products. The star of the show will be the new Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid. The full schedule of events will be up on the Saturn web site beginning October 23. Admission is free as are apples and beverages and no registration is required.
[Source: General Motors]
Saturn Provides Environmental Focus and Fun to Washington D.C. Consumers
Four-day D.C. presence created to promote environmentalism and showcase most affordable hybrid SUV on the market, the Saturn VUE Green Line
October 26 - 29 Saturn Greenhouses open to public at Union Station, Reagan Building, and the Marine Corps Marathon Expo
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Saturn is inviting the public to learn ways to adopt "green" or environmentally-friendly habits by building actual "living" Greenhouses in three locations in the Washington, D.C., October 26 - 29, 2006, while launching the most affordable gas-electric hybrid SUV on the market, the Saturn VUE Green Line.
Whether it's enjoying a free tree seedling giveaway, or a lecture on "Sustainability and Architecture" from the executive editor of Dwell Magazine, Sam Grawe, the Saturn Greenhouses offer fun, educational activities to D.C. consumers while underscoring the importance of environmental responsibility.
Each transparent "living" Greenhouse display offers consumers the opportunity to get an up-close-and-personal look at the all-new Saturn VUE Green Line Hybrid in a unique setting that showcases the power of going green through multiple displays, demonstrations and scheduled activities.
"From our perspective, there's no better metaphor to describe our mission of inviting the public into what we're growing at Saturn than a Greenhouse," said Jill Lajdziak, general manager of Saturn. "The new VUE Green Line stands as a symbol of the future direction of the Saturn brand - one that is forward-thinking, responsible and delivers affordable innovations that meet the needs of our owners."
As a proud sponsor of the 31st Marine Corps Marathon, taking place on Sunday, October 29, Saturn will also build a Greenhouse at the Marathon Expo site.
The Greenhouses are open to the public October 26 - 29 at the following three Washington, D.C. locations:
Union Station (50 Massachusetts Ave., West Metro Side)
Ronald Reagan Building (14th Street and Constitution)
Marine Corps Marathon Expo (DC Armory, near RFK Stadium; October 27-28 only)
Greenhouse Hours of Operation:
Thursday - Saturday, October 26 - 28: 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday, October 29: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
D.C. Is Going Green
Greenhouse activities throughout the weekend for consumers to enjoy include:
Special Guest Presentation by Sam Grawe, Executive Editor, Dwell Magazine on the topic of "Sustainability and Architectural Design" (October 26 at 4:30 p.m. at Union Station)
Live music from D.C. acoustic recording artists
A child-friendly "Arts & Scraps" car-building activity using recycled materials (takes place all day on Saturday, October 28 at the Marathon Expo location)
Special Relaxation Station at the Marathon Expo location
Organic food cooking demonstrations
Short environmental presentations on topics such as city gardening and knitting with organic materials
Tree seedling giveaways
Complimentary beverages and apples
A full schedule of Saturn Greenhouse activities will be available the week of October 23rd on www.saturn.com. No registration for consumers is required and there is no cost for participation.
The Saturn VUE Green Line Hybrid
The 2007 VUE Green Line Hybrid is the first GM vehicle powered by a new, more affordable hybrid system. The VUE Green Line delivers an estimated 20-percent improvement in fuel economy, depending on driving conditions. With an EPA estimated 27 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway, it has the best highway mileage of any SUV. The VUE's hybrid system costs under $2,000. The VUE Green Line Hybrid SUV has a starting price of $22,995 (including destination charge), making it the lowest-priced hybrid SUV on the market.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader for 75 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 327,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM operates one of the world's leading finance companies, GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and insurance. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BUY ALTERNATIVE ENERGY 3:31PM (10/22/2006)
HONDA/PLUG POWER HAVE A BETTER MOUSETRAP:
Fuel Cell > FCX > Hydrogen Station
In addition to a solar cell-powered hydrogen refueling station, Honda is operating an experimental Home Energy Station that generates hydrogen from natural gas for use in fuel cell vehicles while supplying electricity and hot water to the home as part of its ongoing research into development of hydrogen production and supply systems for a hydrogen-based society of the future.
Honda has long been conducting research into hydrogen production and supply systems for a hydrogen-based society of the future. At the solar-powered water electrolyzing hydrogen station that has been operating on an experimental basis since 2001 at Honda R&D Americas in Torrance, California, employment of Honda’s water electrolyzing module, which boasts world-leading efficiency, as well as next-generation solar cell panels made by Honda Engineering, has further improved hydrogen production efficiency and greatly reduced CO2 emissions during system manufacturing. In 2003 Honda established an experimental Home Energy Station that generates hydrogen from natural gas for use in fuel cell vehicles, while supplying electricity and hot water to the home through fuel cell cogeneration functions. In November 2004, in collaboration with Plug Power Inc. of the US, Honda began operating a second-generation Home Energy Station, which unifies natural gas reformer and pressurizing units into one compact component to reduce the overall volume by approximately 50%. Honda is continuing its efforts to develop systems required for a hydrogen-based society of the future through experiments with various hydrogen production and usage systems.
Schematic of a solar-powered water electrolyzing hydrogen station
Outline of a solar-powered water electrolyzing hydrogen station
Location:
Honda R&D Americas research facility in Los Angeles
System configuration:
Solar battery, electric converter, electrolyzing system, compressor, pressurized hydrogen tank
Hydrogen production capacity:
In conjunction with commercial electric power: Max. 2Nm3/h*; Solar power only: Max. 1.2Nm3/h*
Hydrogen storage capacity:
400L (350 atm)
Schematic of Home Energy Station
Outline of Home Energy Station
Location:
Plug Power Inc. headquarters (New York)
System configuration:
Reformer, refiner, fuel cells, compressor, high-pressure storage tank
Hydrogen production capacity:
Maximum 2Nm3/h*
Hydrogen storage capacity:
132L
Power generation capacity:
Over 4kW
* N = standard conditions at 0ºC, 1 atm
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Roger Pfeiffer 3:59PM (10/26/2006)
SAAB is definitely one of the worlds' leading car makers in vehicle safety, as is Volvo. It is notable that both campaniles are located in relatively tiny Sweden, a country that cares deeply for the welfare and safety of people. SAAB and Volvo have a history of bringing out safety innovations not because they have to, but rather because they WANT to! Both companies go to accident scenes involving their cars to study how they can make their cars safer...how admirable!
Alternative fuels for an automobile are certainly becoming increasingly important as time goes on. Eventually, we are bound to run out of fossil fuel on this planet, as there is a finite amount to pump from underground. Additionally, the rate at which we use it up will be increasing, especially since China is just beginning its rapid expansion in the use of cars. Also, the way things have been going in recent years, the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuel, fuel that has been buried for millions of years underground, is causing “the greenhouse effect” to be of major concern because of the global warming it causes. Clearly, the polar ice caps are melting at an increasingly alarming rate, and not as much of the water is re-freezing in the “winter months” (depending on the pole). If we don’t do something about it soon, like within about 20 years, we will find our cities on the coasts buried under water. Also, as I understand it, the warming of the oceans will cause quite dramatic shifts in weather patterns, meaning more hurricanes and stormy weather. I’m not writing this for the purpose of extolling gloom and doom, but rather to point out that we human beings in the near future need to be altering our ways of burning such large amounts of fossil fuel. We need to ramp-up the development of new technology and methods to power our cars and to be less reliant on cars in general. Of course public transportation helps, but we need to develop the technology and efficiency of using alternative sources of energy soon. In my opinion, ethanol is an important component of the bridge needed to get us to the use of hydrogen cells, and beyond, to power our vehicles. The beauty of burning ethanol, being that it comes from the fermentation of vegetative sources such as corn, wood pulp, and many other plant sources, in effect recycles the carbon dioxide present in our atmosphere. Plants use it to grow in the process of photosynthesis. Brazil uses almost exclusively ethanol that is derived from sugarcane grown there.
Here in the U.S. and elsewhere, the auto makers are producing more and more cars that will run on “E85” fuel, composed of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Gasohol (10% ethanol) has been a good start, but E85 is even better in my opinion. Vehicles that will run on either gasoline or E85 are called “flex-fuel vehicles” (FFVs). In the latest issue of the leading consumer magazine is a front-page article about what they deem, “the ethanol myth”. They came to the conclusion that it is disadvantageous to run a FFV vehicle on E85 fuel instead of gasoline. Both the fuel economy and acceleration of the 2007 SUV tested dropped when running on E85 compared with gasoline.
From this, it seems apparent to me that the U.S. needs to catch up to Sweden, General Motor's Saab in particular. Running on E85, the Saab 9-5 "BioPower" Turbo model delivers a significant 20 percent increase in maximum power and 16 percent more torque while emitting 80% less CO2 into the environment compared to running it on gasoline. Running E85 compared to gasoline takes about a second off the 0-60 mph time, and there is a 15 percent gain in fuel economy on the open road where fuel-enrichment for engine cooling is no longer necessary when a vehicle is run on ethanol. The 9-5 BioPower has taken the Swedish market by storm this year, outselling its full-year 2006 sales target in just four months. Sweden has a long cultural and political tradition of respect for the environment, and this is reflected in Saab's achievements of the pioneering of asbestos-free brake linings and the removal of CFCs from air conditioning systems, and now Saab’s Trionic 7 BioPower engines. I remember back in 1973, when the oil embargo hit and additional "smog control" devices (i.e., the EGR valve and air pump) were required on new cars, their performance declined significantly. Many people at the time, including mechanics and engineers, thought the performance and efficiency of cars had been dealt a lethal blow. This is when I bought my first Saab, a 99 EMS. Saab, with the development of the "lambda sond" oxygen sensor (keeps the correct stoichiometric ratio of 14.5 to 1 in the air-fuel mixture) in 1976 along with electronic fuel injection, required no such smog control devices. It was the beginning of electronics-to-the-rescue for car performance. This technology, along with concern for safety and functionality, enamored me with the cars. I was impressed that they did this because they wanted to, as opposed to doing it because they had to. Seemingly at odds with one another, performance and fuel economy were blended together in a practical and distinctive car.
So here we are, forty years later, and Saab is still leading the way in emissions and performance technology. All Saabs are turbocharged and have direct ignition, and the engine’s combustion process is very precisely controlled by a powerful 32-bit microprocessor controlled system called, "Trionic 7". This unit monitors the combustion process in each cylinder a million times per second for optimum efficiency. It precisely regulates the fuel-air mixture in each cylinder, the ignition timing, and the amount of turbo boost pressure allowed. And(!), very significantly, it automatically adjusts itself to any proportion of gasoline and ethanol.
How does Saab achieve higher performance using E85 compared to gasoline, you might ask? It stems from the octane rating of E85 being about 10% higher than that of gasoline. The Trionic system thus allows more advanced ignition timing, a higher compression ratio, and a higher turbo boost pressure, all of which increase the performance and efficiency of the engine.
There are two driving forces behind the adoption of a renewable and sustainable fuel such as “bioethanol” E85: The environmental need to combat climate change from the greenhouse effect and the strategic need to overcome dependency on oil, a finite resource for which global demand will exceed supply, not to mention the world tensions related to it’s procurement. Sweden plans on being free of dependency on oil by the year 2020. Let's hope that the same will be true of the U.S. It appears to me that General Motors, especially with Saab’s traditional engine know-how, is leading the way.
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