As fossil fuels become more and more important in our daily lives, and environmental concerns are becoming more prevalent, there is no doubt that companies and institutes must try to find more sustainable and fuel-efficient technologies in order to reduce dependency on them. One engine that promises to reduce our fossil fuel-burning is the Avadi MA-250 engine. It is an engine that not only represents a step forward in the development of more environmentally friendly ICE engines but also offers many applications to extend its use to several other energy-related sectors.
Before getting into the diverse applications of the MA-250, however, it might be helpful to illustrate the context within which it is operating. Renewable energy might be growing at an exponential rate but, nonetheless, most of the energy that the world uses is and will continue to be derived from fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. This is because one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels, the internal combustion engine, is deeply embedded in global infrastructure. From automobiles to industrial machines, the world simply does not have the capacity, in either technical or economic terms, to move away from such embedded systems of infrastructure. This is why innovations such as the MA-250 are so important: they serve to unlock reductions in the consumption of fossil fuels by increasing the efficiencies of existing technologies embedded within mature systems of infrastructure.
And this beautiful little machine – the MA-250 – harks back to four-stroke engineering of old, and shows just what modern ingenuity can do, and what might still be possible. For it is another single-piston engine, built by Avadi Engines Inc of Yakima, Washington, and designed to overcome many of the issues that beset the old ones. It weighs just 43lb, yet puts out 15.8 horsepower at 3700 rpm, and 22.3 lb-ft of torque at 3500 rpm. It’s not yet big enough (or economically viable yet) to power full-sized vehicles but, though forecasts for the year 2020 now suggest that US automotive fuel consumption will rise by 100-125 billion gallons – in fact, it has doubled since 1970 – it is small enough to power plenty of useful little applications.
Hybrids are a major strategy for decreasing fossil-fuel usage, but they still need an auxiliary power source. Here is where the MA-250 comes in. More efficient engines would allow hybrid and plug-in hybrid models to have smaller batteries and emit less while still running well.
The MA-250 works for motorcycles and mopeds as well as ATVs and snowmobiles. In marine environments, it could power small, pleasure boats. On its own, you wouldn’t pick it for a speedboat motor. The engine is clean and very fuel-efficient, but it wouldn’t pack the punch of something like a diesel in Sea-Doo. That’s not the market for it. But if just-in-time manufacturing makes fuel-efficient small engines more affordable for things like motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles, you could also apply it to anything else and push back against the limits of what’s possible in recreational life.
Portable power generators are now essential under unpredictable climate conditions, but most are powered by fossil fuels. The MA-250’s high efficiency would be especially welcome in generators for disaster relief, military operations and off-grid fun.
From military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for scenario planning and disaster response to advanced search-and-rescue vehicles, the MA-250 provides light, powerful and reliable recharging in some of the toughest missions.
Heavyindustries, such as agriculture and construction, are some of the most challenging in terms of reducing fossil-fuel use. The MA-250 engine can be used in small tractors and lawn mowers, and scaled up for worksite equipment, a vital step toward making industry greener.
On a planet struggling with the environmental consequences of fossil-fuel dependency, this design survival represents the promise of what we can do, salvaging the future for some existing technologies through innovation, and hinting at our ability to remodel our future – with existing parts! – from closed-loop ecological principles.
At the heart of nearly every discussion about an engine such as the MA-250 is fossil fuel. Mined or drilled from underground, these stocks are natural resources that resulted from millions of years of natural activities commencing with the organic remains of sea creatures and animals long dead. These ancient sources, part of what drove the progress of human civilization, also produced much of our current environmental issues. The extraction and utilization of fossil fuel has been a major culprit in air pollution and climate change, driving a need to switch to more efficient engines and to renewable energy.
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