At a time when gas is soaring toward $4 or more a gallon and diesel fuel has left $4.50 in the dust, General Electric is proposing to take its diesel-electric technology developed from years of making locomotives to the shipping industry. GE is creating a hybrid diesel-electric tug boat. The new tug would burn 30% less fuel and have 80% less emissions. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Recently the company started plans to develop a diesel electric hybrid locomotive for railroad service. The new design uses the energy generated in braking the locomotive to recharge lead-free batteries, a considerable amount of power which is now wasted by dynamic brakes that turn this excess energy into heat. The GE engineers figured, why waste it?
Additionally other companies are working on similar technology which if fully implemented could reduce pollution by locomotives by 50%. Promising stuff, now if we can just get it rolled out for real!
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