Charger Rt Essay, Research Paper

In the not-too-distant future — with regard to history’s timeline — there will come a point when fossil fuels will have been depleted and humans will be forced to find alternative sources with which to power automobiles, household heating units and other machinery that utilizes fuel. However, waiting until supplies are exhausted before establishing a workable alternative would place a major hardship upon future energy demands. For this reason, various options — not only those that supply a form of fuel but also those that reduce and often eliminate pollution — have been in the works for several years. It is imperative that these alternatives be implemented long before the current supply is depleted.

In one year, America will have exhausted a lot of her petroleum reserves if we didn t have some help from the Arabs. I also figure that the eyes of most Americans would light up at the site of a fuel price of about 1/3 the price of gasoline. Will we then go to war with the Arabs for the privilege of driving our cars if the decide to keep the price to high on gasoline? Will we strip-mine our land for coal and poison the air we breathe to drive our autos an additional 100 years? Will we raze our forests for our energy needs? I certainly hope our country will never come to those conclusions. However, someone must make a conclusion hopefully toward an alternate fuel source. The fuel source I would propose is compressed natural gas also known as CNG.

Natural gas is the counter answer for oil. It is more environmentally safe, and easy to come by for at least the next sixty years. Natural gas, which is methane combined with ethane, is found where oil and coal are mined. Right now this resource is just burned off because it doesn t have a really big demand for it. If we started to harvest this resource thousands of jobs would be created. As of right now ninety percent of the natural gas we use today is produced domestically. Methane on its own can be found all over the world in large amounts. It comes from other forms of energy and the majority is found in the depths of the oceans and from biomass (Garbage, and plant life). Biomass is one of four forms of renewable energies. Biomass gives of methane when burned, which gives off carbon dioxide, but it is the same carbon dioxide that was originally absorbed by the plant life. Biomass doesn t give off any new contribution to the green house effect . This form of renewable energy is still experimental. It is supported by many, but it still needs refining, persuasion, and is financially returning.

Speaking of finances these cars will save the buyer in the long run. However, the vehicles cost about 4,000 dollars to have converted to CNG vehicles. The price will continue to decline as these vehicles are mass-produced by major corporations. They will also become more economical when the stricter emissions regulations are standard on all the new gas-powered vehicles. A CNG produces around seventy percent less carbon monoxide than a typical gas powered vehicle. The primary reason for this is that per unit of energy, natural gas contains less carbon than any other fossil fuel . This also helps an abundant reduction of CO2, which offers a counter argument to the fact that Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) produce an increase in methane emissions (NGVC and ENGVA).

The beautiful part about this alternative fuel is that the power is clean. This fuel still allows for the high performance vehicle to stick around for me to shock my grandchildren while keeping the air clean enough for them to breath when they get here. All of this has been proved in the new Charger R/T created by DaimlerChrysler. The range of this vehicle flirts with the 300mile mark while still sporting a V8 power plant. This 4.7-liter V8 was redesigned from the stock motor in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, to the higher performance application in the Charger R/T. 230 horsepower may work for the driver of a jeep, but that is weak for an engine replacing the legendary Hemi. So besides keeping the tree huggers happy, the 127 octane rating of CNG allowed the people of Roush Engineering to bump up the compression a little bit. And to top this off they added an Eaton blower and intercooler to give this demon 325 evil rear wheel horsepower (Mopar Action). And if that head spinning horsepower does not turn you into a fiend, the appearance of this brute is awesome. So let this prototype car lead the pack into a large fleet of domestic cars that the everyday driver can afford and drive on a daily basis. If and when this fuel transition happens the world will be a lot cleaner place.

Brunt, Nick. Charger R/T Mopar Action June1999: 39+

NGVC and ENGVA Questions and Answers About Natural Gas Vehicles. 28 March 2000.

Http://www.iangv.org/sources/qa.html.