How Green Can We Get?

By Daren Fonda, Joseph R. Szczesny/Detroit

[This article contains a complex diagram -- Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

YOUR CAR

How to Build a Greener SUV

Hybrids may be the coolest fuel savers, but gas-gulping SUVs could be a lot more efficient too. The Union of Concerned Scientists has come up with a design that achieves 35% better fuel economy than the best-selling Ford Explorer. For only $760 more, that green SUV could be on the road. Combining the usual body-on-frame design into a lighter "unibody" would boost fuel economy as much as 8%. Add a sixth gear to the transmission, lower-friction lubricants and electronic valve controls, and you would be up another 17%. Even redesigning side mirrors to cut wind resistance would help. If automakers improved the fuel economy of SUVs and pickup trucks by 35%, the U.S. would save 1 million bbl. of oil a day, curbing its dependence on foreign crude. Greener SUVs would also free cash for home improvements and consumer spending, boosting the economy.

While many vehicles today have some features recommended by the scientists, none have them all. Why? Before the latest gas spike, the incentives weren't there. Most automakers claimed consumers cared about fuel economy less than about performance. Detroit's dismal sales have also forced companies to trim costs and cut back on fuel-saving technologies. But the next generation of SUVs and pickups won't guzzle quite so much fuel. GM says its 2007 full-size models will get 9% better mileage. The 2006 Ford Explorer boosts mileage 10%, thanks to improvements like a six-speed transmission. Chrysler is reducing the electrical demand of the rear defroster, gaining one-tenth of an m.p.g. Little things like that won't erase our energy woes, but they're a start.

YOUR HOME

Power-Driven Life

It sounds like a far-off dream: The home that heats and cools itself for free and actually generates a bit more juice than it consumes, so that the power utility might even send you a check for supplying energy to the grid. But with commonsense design principles and a little help from technology, the house of the future can be yours.