The Sweet Smell of Diesel
Written by Justice Litle
Edited by Eric Fry
More than a century has passed since Ransom Eli Olds
introduced the first mass-production vehicle, the Curved
Dash Oldsmobile, in 1901. (Ford was hot on his heels.) A
hundred years later, developments in automotive technology
have not slowed down.
Electronic gadgets may capture most of the "Ooohs" and
"Ahhhs" at auto shows, but these modern marvels are of
small consequence compared to what's happening under the
hood...and inside the tailpipe. Corning Inc. the "fiber
optic company" has developed an exhaust-filtration
technology that could dramatically boost demand for diesel-
powered vehicles. This is a long-term play on an exciting,
and perhaps inevitable, development in the automotive
world.
Even without Corning's innovative exhaust filter, diesel is
superior to conventional gasoline in two key respects: It
releases 15-20% less (CO2) per mile driven than regular
gasoline and gets about 30% more miles to the gallon. These
advantages were long hidden by a few nasty drawbacks. The
diesel engines of old were loud, dirty and smelly. You
could hear a diesel truck coming from a quarter mile away,
see the soot half a block away and smell the exhaust as it
rolled past. But after years of research and refinement,
the vast majority of diesel's problems have been licked.
European refineries have long since removed the sulfur from
their diesel production, allowing for a sharp reduction in
smell and smoke. And the rising price of gasoline has made
fuel efficiency all the more important, offsetting the
extra cost of building a diesel engine.
These elements give diesel an edge in capturing global
market share. But diesel also benefits from a much bigger,
and potentially decisive, factor: the existence of
petroleum alternatives. As it turns out, you don't need
crude oil to make diesel. You can make it from coal, plant
mass, cooking oil or even spare turkey parts (a small
refinery in Missouri turns gobblers into fuel, cranking out
hundreds of barrels per day). Biodiesel has taken off in
Europe: Germany is in the lead, raising output 40-50% a
year. Drivers love biodiesel, because it saves them money
at the pump; governments love biodiesel because it offers
justification - partial at least - for the countless
billions gone to farm subsidies. It seems diesel can be
made from just about anything with semi-organic origins. If
you run a restaurant or a cafeteria, you may be tempted to
invest in a cooking oil converter kit; this handy kit lets
you deep fry a batch of potatoes and later reuse the oil in
your delivery truck.
All well and good. But the final hurdle for diesel
dominance can be summed up in a three-letter word: "NOx."
Short for nitrous oxide, NOx is one of the soot-causing
pollutants emitted by diesel engines. While engineers have
figured out how to thoroughly "scrub" diesel exhaust
through the use of catalytic converters and particle traps,
getting out the last bit of NOx has been tricky. In
embracing diesel so many years ago, Europe chose to make a
tradeoff - accepting the downside of NOx-type particulates
in exchange for lower CO2 emissions and greater fuel
efficiency. Now both continents face a challenge: the high
hurdle of tightened emissions regulations. "By 2007, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require a 90%
reduction in the amount of soot," Forbes reports. "Between
2007 and 2010 the agency also mandates a phased 92%
reduction in the amount of NOx emitted from a truck's
tailpipe." Europe has committed itself to a similar
mandate.
The American trucking industry, which depends on diesel, is
in a tizzy. A 92% NOx reduction is no small thing, and
yesterday's pollution technology is not quite up to snuff.
Tailpipes must be upgraded; the entire trucking industry
must find a way to comply by the EPA deadline. This is
where opportunity comes into focus...He who slays the NOx
dragon wins the fair maiden's hand: the lucrative exhaust-
filtration market. Corning to continue the metaphor may
be the lucky knight-in-shining armor.
This 150-year-old company has enjoyed a long history of
maverick innovation. Its intense focus on research and
development, combined with a willingness to take risks on
new ideas, is woven into the fabric of the company. In
testament to its research prowess, the town of Corning,
N.Y., challenges Los Alamos, N.M., for the highest number
of Ph.D.s per capita in the world. (Sometimes that's a good
thing). From the mundane to the exotic, Corning is widely
known for its glass products. The company has done
groundbreaking work in everything from light bulbs, Pyrex
dishes and test tube beakers to space shuttle windows,
missile nose cones and spy satellites.
Although most folks know Corning as the leading pioneer of
fiber optic technology, the company has also pioneered
environmental technologies. More than three decades ago,
Corning introduced the honeycomb-type material at the heart
of catalytic converters. Now, this innovative company is
preparing to take the automotive world by storm yet again.
Corning sold off its conventional glassware business in the
late 1990s to make way for a major research and development
push. As part of that effort, Corning focused on diesel-
exhaust technology. The company's researchers saw the
inevitability of tightening environmental regulations and
felt they could come up with far superior exhaust-
filtration solutions in comparison to what currently
existed. So Corning's management decided to take a risk and
invest close to half a billion dollars in a new factory and
new materials research, even as the bursting dot-com and
telecom bubbles were savaging company's core fiber-optics
business.
The big bet looks like it will soon begin to pay off.
Thanks to up-and-coming regulations, diesel tailpipes are
projected to be a billion-dollar market by 2008 - a more-
than-80-fold increase from the year Corning first took the
plunge. And that is only the beginning: As diesel
technology takes hold in the developing world, the tailpipe
growth curve will rapidly accelerate.
Corning dominated fiber optics through a relentless
combination of smarts, guts and know-how. The company has
also performed under pressure in the past, developing the
catalytic converter in response to a new era of emission
regulations. The goal is to do the same thing here in 2006,
creating a particulate filter that is simultaneously more
efficient, more durable and less expensive than the
competition's. The material Corning has selected for its
next-generation filter - aluminum titanate - is the result
of more than two years of intense research. The firm is
taking risks and leaping ahead while competitors stick to
the status quo. Between technological savvy, early-stage
initiative and already recorded progress, Corning has a
strong shot at dominating this lucrative new market space.
At the moment, the bulk of Corning's profits comes from LCD
screens and flat panels; Corning is seen as the fiber
optics company that "also" does environmental technology.
With the growth of diesel in the coming years, Corning
might eventually become the environmental technology
company that "also" does flat panels and fiber optics.
[Joel's Note: It might be time you blew the smoke off your
portfolio and added Justice's pollution-free, financial
newsletter to your investment strategy. Learn more about
why Justice believes diesel is going to play an
increasingly important role by reading this special report
on the coming petroleum crisis.
The coming petroleum apocalypse what you need to know:
http://www.isecureonline.com/Reports/OST/EOSTFC25/
Christopher McCann, Squier Park, Kansas City, Missouri
-2005 Blue Point Siamese, "Rose"
-1987 300TD, 151K, "Rotkäppchen"
-1985 300SD, 210K, "Wulf"
-1976 240D, ?K, "AKP-Wagen" (Alternativen Kraftstoffs Prüfenlastwagen)
-1972 Jacobsen 21" Turbo Vent
-1971 Case 222 Hydrive, 12HP Kohler, 38" deck, Snowcaster, "One Banger"
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Subject: [MBZ] Transmission questions
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Does anyone have a chart for auto transmission types used in various model
numbers and years. I am most interested in those used in the 123, 124, and
126 types. Right now I am specifically looking for info about the trans in
a 86 300D and an 88 300TE
I know that a 123 can be converted to manual trans with bolt-in
components. Is this also possible with a 124? Anybody got a 124 5 speed
with all linkages, pedals, etc that would be necessary for a conversion?
Loren Faeth
88 300TE
87 SDL
87 TD
86 SDL
86 300D
85 380SL
81 240D
66 200D 2.4
66 200D
