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World News 01 15 2010
World News Headlines 01 15 2010
U.S. to inject $187 million into fuel efficiency
The Obama administration is announcing on Monday the selection of nine projects totaling $187 million aimed at improving the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks.
The funding includes more than $100 million from the $787 billion economic stimulus plan President Barack Obama pushed through Congress last February. An additional 50 percent will come from the private sector, according to the announcement to be made by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in Columbus, Ind.
The Obama administration is under pressure to show it is working to create jobs with the U.S. unemployment rate stuck at 10 percent.
The administration estimated the projects would create 500 jobs in areas like research and engineering near term, with the potential for creating 6,000 positions in manufacturing and assembly by 2015.
Three projects will focus on efforts to improve the fuel efficiency of long-haul freight trucks by 50 percent.
The freight-truck awards include:
$38.8 million for Cummins in Columbus, Ind. This project is aimed at developing a clean, efficient diesel engine, an advanced waste-heat recovery system, an aerodynamic Peterbilt tractor-trailer combination, and a fuel cell auxiliary power unit to reduce engine idling.
• $39.6 million for Daimler Trucks North America. This project in Portland, Ore., will seek to develop technologies including engine downsizing, electrification of auxiliary systems such as oil and water pumps, waste heat recovery, improved aerodynamics, and hybridization.
• $37.3 million for Navistar. This Fort Wayne, Ind., project will seek to develop technologies to improve truck and trailer aerodynamics, combustion efficiency, waste heat recovery, hybridization, idle reduction, and reduced rolling resistance tires.
Another six projects will be aimed at developing fuel efficiency for passenger vehicle engines and powertrain systems. The goal is to develop engine technologies that will improve the fuel economy of passenger vehicles by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2015 using an engine-only approach.
Those include:
• $14.5 million for Chrysler Group. The Auburn Hills, Mich., project will aim to develop a flexible combustion system for their minivan platform based on a downsized, turbocharged engine that uses direct gasoline injection, recirculation of exhaust gases and flexible intake air control to reduce emissions.
• $15 million for Cummins to develop a fuel-efficient, low emissions diesel engine that achieves a 40 percent fuel economy improvement over conventional gasoline technology and significantly exceeds 2010 Environmental Protection Agency emissions requirements.
• $7.5 million for Delphi Automotive Systems to develop a novel low-temperature combustion system, coupled with technologies such as continuously variable valve control and engine downspeeding, to improve fuel economy by at least 25 percent.
• $15 million for Ford Motor in Dearborn, Mich., to achieve a 25 percent fuel economy improvement with a gasoline engine in a 2010 mid- to large-size sedan using technologies including engine downsizing, turbo-charging, direct injection, and a novel exhaust after-treatment system.
• $7.7 million for General Motors in Pontiac, Mich., to develop an engine that uses lean combustion and active heat management, as well as a novel emissions control system, to improve the fuel economy of a 2010 Malibu demonstration vehicle by 25 percent.
• $12 million for Robert Bosch in Farmington Hills, Mich., to demonstrate a high compression, turbo-charged engine based on homogenous charge compression ignition technology--a combustion technology that allows for lower emissions and higher efficiency--to achieve up to 30 percent fuel economy improvement in a gasoline-fueled light-duty vehicle.
Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
Remember What Happened One Year Ago?
It was one year ago on January 15, 2009 that the unthinkable happened. A jet landed in the middle of the frigid Hudson River and every single person on board survived. Thanks to the heroics of Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, US Airways Flight 1549 became a cause for miraculous celebration after a flock of Canada geese crossed paths with the plane and disabled both engines, forcing a risky water landing.
The Associated Press reports that many of the 155 people who lived through the water landing are reuniting on Friday to celebrate the anniversary of their unlikely survival. Sullenberger and Skiles will be among them. The group gathered for breakfast so they could thank the first responders who rescued them as they balanced on the wings of the planes as the chilly river water lapped against their legs. They are also giving thanks to the Greater New York and Northern New Jersey chapters of the American Red Cross.
Later in the day, the group will meet with boat crews and other rescuers so they can board one of the passenger ferries that plucked them from the icy water to return to the site of the unlikely landing. At 3:31 p.m., the moment of impact, they'll raise glasses in a toast to life. Two of the survivors, Ben Bostic and Laura Zych, strangers when they boarded the flight one year ago, are now dating and say they have fallen in love.
This web site information was culled from several sources by RadioZX from around the World including The New York Times
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