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Experts who say they have figured out a way to cut down on snowmobile pollution are taking their technology to developing countries to help reduce the smog from motorized tricycles.
Two-stroke engines are used throughout the Third World because they are resilient and inexpensive power sources, but they also expel a significant amount of fuel and oil.
"There are over 50 million of these vehicles," said Brian Willson, professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University and a leader of the project to retrofit the engines. "The impact on air quality and human health is stunning."
According to World Bank estimates, a conventional tricycle emits as much pollution as 50 automobiles and particulate emissions cause 2,000 premature deaths annually in four major Philippine cities.
Willson, students and colleagues founded EnviroFit International with the mission of offering the technology to the developing world. His CSU team won the emissions event in the 2002 Clean Snowmobile Challenge held in Jackson.
The competition was organized when the National Park Service began mulling a ban on snowmobiles in national parks because of the machines' noise and air pollution. The contest has since moved to Houghton, Mich.
Two-stroke engines, the mainstay of the U.S. outdoor recreation industry and used in many power tools, are simpler to construct and lighter because they don't have valves. They are also more powerful than four-stroke engines, which run nearly every car and truck on the road.
But two-stroke engines are less fuel efficient and pollute more.
The CSU team's solution was to use a fuel injector to better meter and mix the air, oil and fuel required for combustion. During the exhaust stroke, less unburned fuel and oil are expelled.
Publicity from the 2002 contest led to a group in Manila inquiring about the technology as it was researching options for reducing emissions by motorized tricycles.
Colorado State University and Bob Walker, owner of Flagg Ranch near Yellowstone National Park - where the first three Clean Snowmobile Challenges were held - helped fund development of a prototype.
The team developed one that reduced emissions on a scale similar to its award-winning snowmobile.
The retrofitted tricycle engine reduced hydrocarbon emissions by 90 percent, particulates by 80 percent, carbon monoxide by 70 percent and fuel consumption by 35 percent.
A retrofit costs $200, but the cost is recovered in about 10 months through fuel savings, Willson said.
EnviroFit hopes to produce and install at least 500 retrofit kits in the Philippines and then expand the project to other Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and China. The organization is also considering bringing the technology to Africa.
For more information visit EnviroFit International's Web site at www.envirofit.org or Clean Snowmobile Challenge's Web site at www.sae.org/students/snow.htm
Two-stroke engines are used throughout the Third World because they are resilient and inexpensive power sources, but they also expel a significant amount of fuel and oil.
"There are over 50 million of these vehicles," said Brian Willson, professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University and a leader of the project to retrofit the engines. "The impact on air quality and human health is stunning."
According to World Bank estimates, a conventional tricycle emits as much pollution as 50 automobiles and particulate emissions cause 2,000 premature deaths annually in four major Philippine cities.
Willson, students and colleagues founded EnviroFit International with the mission of offering the technology to the developing world. His CSU team won the emissions event in the 2002 Clean Snowmobile Challenge held in Jackson.
The competition was organized when the National Park Service began mulling a ban on snowmobiles in national parks because of the machines' noise and air pollution. The contest has since moved to Houghton, Mich.
Two-stroke engines, the mainstay of the U.S. outdoor recreation industry and used in many power tools, are simpler to construct and lighter because they don't have valves. They are also more powerful than four-stroke engines, which run nearly every car and truck on the road.
But two-stroke engines are less fuel efficient and pollute more.
The CSU team's solution was to use a fuel injector to better meter and mix the air, oil and fuel required for combustion. During the exhaust stroke, less unburned fuel and oil are expelled.
Publicity from the 2002 contest led to a group in Manila inquiring about the technology as it was researching options for reducing emissions by motorized tricycles.
Colorado State University and Bob Walker, owner of Flagg Ranch near Yellowstone National Park - where the first three Clean Snowmobile Challenges were held - helped fund development of a prototype.
The team developed one that reduced emissions on a scale similar to its award-winning snowmobile.
The retrofitted tricycle engine reduced hydrocarbon emissions by 90 percent, particulates by 80 percent, carbon monoxide by 70 percent and fuel consumption by 35 percent.
A retrofit costs $200, but the cost is recovered in about 10 months through fuel savings, Willson said.
EnviroFit hopes to produce and install at least 500 retrofit kits in the Philippines and then expand the project to other Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and China. The organization is also considering bringing the technology to Africa.
For more information visit EnviroFit International's Web site at www.envirofit.org or Clean Snowmobile Challenge's Web site at www.sae.org/students/snow.htm
