BMW Turbosteamer (Waste Heat Recovery)

[Capcom]

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/12/bmw_developing_.html

BMW develops a technology both for performance and for fuel economy.

[Matt Timion]

I just looked over that website. I really like it. Looks like there are new hybrid smart cars coming out, as well as a new electric smart car. Wal Mart is going to increase fuel efficiency on their fleat of trucks twofold by 2015. Honda is going to make a solar car.

Looks like a very cool website. I should be visiting it more often now.

About your link, it seems that the next advancement on efficiency is going to be wasted heat. Using exhaust gases and heat is the next smart move. Yay for BMW. Now if I could only afford one of their cars.

[SVOboy]

On another note, yay for bmw making hybrids with capicators rather than batteries.

[bones33]

I really like the idea of using a thermoelectric (thermocouple) unit to produce electricity directly from waste heat. Searching further on the site it shows that efficiency improvements on these are projected to be something like tenfold. That has a huge potential for electricity production or reduction of the need for electricity to cool things like houses, buildings, computers and car engines. I guess it could only work if the price comes down significantly. These puppies are still pretty expensive.