The World Is Ready for Powerful Technological Change
Some old ideas are gaining traction alongside new innovation as part of a global effort to stem greenhouse gases and air pollution
Spring 2008
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Tudor Van Hampton at Munichs Deutsches Museum
The First Working Diesel Engine
Inventor: Rudolf Diesel
Model: 1897
Displacement: 19.6L
(one cylinder, bore 250mm, stroke 400mm)
Horsepower: 20
Weight: 4.5 tonnes
Fuel Consumption: 238 grams per hp per hour
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What is old sometimes becomes new again as attitudes and knowledge are filtered and tested by time. When Rudolf Diesel in 1893 received a patent for an internal combustion engine that used the heat of compression in a cylinder to support ignition, he envisioned the device consuming a variety of fuels, including peanut and vegetable oil, to help support agrarian society. Cheap and plentiful petroleum-based products ultimately put that early vision of biodiesel on the shelf, but Diesel showed the concept would work by running a demonstration engine on 100% peanut oil at the 1900 Paris Exposition. A century later, the world is revisiting that biodiesel dream, driven by increasingly confrontational petropolitics and the need and mandate to cut toxic exhaust emissions from diesel engines that cause health and environmental problems.
There is no room for technological complacency in today's world. The pace of innovation in construction equipment and tools is accelerating, and manufacturers that sit still will find themselves left behind or out of business. Many equipment firms are using the public mandate to develop and install cleaner diesel engines in on- and off-the-road equipment to revisit the design and function of other features of their machines. The super-competitive marketplace also extends to power tools, which often perform the same function as older models but are more ergonomic, safer, more powerful and easier to use. In many cases, it costs just as much to produce a poorly performing tool or machine as a good one, with the difference being continuing innovation, product testing and customer input.
Companies that do not embrace the global marketplace are going to be dragged along nonetheless by government mandates in major markets around the world. Cleaner and more efficient engines and some important safety features on equipment and tools are not voluntary in the U.S., European Union and many other places. Nations that do not require them now will be under heavy pressure to do so, and their nonconforming products will be severely restricted in availability until they finally are brought into line with global best practices.
Step-by-step innovation sometimes is punctuated by technological breakthroughs. The Global Positioning System and other global navigation satellite systems are examples of how technology can radically change the way we work and live. GPS was first developed by the U.S. Dept. of Defense in the 1970s as a military tool. Today, costs for the equipment are plummeting, and GPS helps guide everything from bulldozers and graders to minivans and soccer moms, with pinpoint accuracy. How did anyone live without it?
The world now is actively exploring alternatives to common powerplants that are relics of the Petroleum Age. With oil now selling for over $100 a barrel, many are feasible conceptually, and some are finding their way into the marketplace. Hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines and super-efficient fuel-cell propulsion are just a few. Just as Rudolf Diesel struggled for almost a decade to overcome technological obstacles, others now are struggling to tame issues involving materials, costs, performance and well-entrenched petroleum interests and infrastructure. The winners and losers in this wrestling match are not yet clear, but the fact the contest is in earnest shows the world, for once, is ready for change before a global crisis throws it to the mat.
