4 Wheeling

Today while reading a four wheeling magazine called Low-Range, I read an article about how people who four wheel also enjoy the environment and, most, do what they can to keep the trails as they were. As mentioned in my original post about what this blog was about, I mentioned that even though changes to engines will not stop people from going out and running their old trucks and SUV’s that are trail capable but have not been properly liscensed. One thing that all people that go out four wheeling have in common is the fact that they do not want to harm the environment too much. Now there are a few people that get impatient and do not obey the common courtesy rules, but most do. Some of the things that are done to keep the trails the way they are is to clean up garbage that is brought for lunch, snack, etc., while on the trail, staying on the trail at all times, pulling over to allow uphill traffic to come down, allowing skiers to pass by while snowmobile, etc. If outdoor recreationalists do this everytime they go out the environment will be there longer and just as beautiful.

Smog and Emission Checks

This week I was having trouble thinking of what to write about. Though I remembered I hadn’t actually written anything about Smog and Emissions Tests that are required in some states and not in others. One good thing that comes out of an Emissions test is that the state knows which cars, for those newer than a certain date, are properly taken care of and which ones are not. In order to get liscence tabs for your car, in states that do require the tests, cars must go through an emissions test. Although, as stated before some states do not require all of their cars to go through emissions tests. Some of the states that do not require tests are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. This information was found on the DMV main website at: http://www.dmv.org/smog-check.php . When you click on the states that do not require emissions tests, their main reason is that they do not feel that there is enough bad emissions being let out into the atmosphere. Not everyone takes care of their car the way it should be, which can cause bad emissions to get emitted into the atmosphere.

Amount of Cars on the road

I just came across a statistic of the amount of cars on the road (in the world) is over 600 million, from the article “Global Warming, Focus on the Future”, 1997. There are other statistics about cars on http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/MarinaStasenko.shtml, if you would like to take a look feel free. Also at the end of this article is a link to an article entitled “Are ‘Alternative Fuels’ the Answer?” (http://www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=3&num=7704). This article shows that in 2003 it was estimated that 204,000,000 vehicles in the US alone.

Diesel/Electric Dozer

As mentioned previously I saw a diesel/electric dozer at the Con Expo in Las Vegas. Below is a picture of this dozer.

Diesel Hybrid Tractors

I recently just returned from the Con Expo in Las Vegas and saw that John Deere is coming out with a Hybrid Dozer. This seems to be a big step because from all of the other companies that were looked at not very many have used this idea. Also, there was a crusher made by Eagle Crushers that the tracks are run by diesel fuel but all the other components of the crusher are electric. Hopefully this will continue through the next few years and other companies continue to update their fuel economy in their tractors.

Hydrogen Fueled Tractors

Earlier last week I was asked whether or not tractors can run on hydrogen. Doing some research today I found that Caterpillar actually produced a tractor that will run on a hydrogen/diesel mix. The system is being studied by engineering students at North Dakota State University. In the article that I found about this topic (if you would like to read the article: http://www.ndsu.edu/research/article.php?article_number=78) it says that there is even talk that one day manure from cows may even, one day, be used to fuel farm tractors. The hydrogen/diesel system may not come out for another few years, but like every invention it takes a while to perfect the product.