Innovative
Environment-Friendly Products: BlueHeat
September 08, 2005 — By Paul Geary, ENN
ENN brings you stories about the very
latest environment-friendly products on the market today. Our news
sections provide daily coverage of the developments that companies and
organizations large and small are working on. And periodically, we bring
you stories about innovative products from forward-thinking companies
that aim to make your choices as a green consumer more varied. As the
market for greener products expands, companies will fill that demand
with more and better products that are good for the environment.
If you know about an interesting, innovative product that you'd like us
to know about, e-mail us at
ennpublisher@yahoo.com.
In this incarnation of our innovative product series, we're featuring
BlueHeat, a product that performs many of the heating functions in your
car, but without having to idle the engine. Idling engines spend fuel,
and burn that fuel less cleanly than fuel that's being burned when your
car is moving.
BlueHeat is made by Webasto, a company that makes components for cars.
Webasto sells its products to major car companies ("original equipment
manufacturers," or "OEMs") and to consumers. The company makes and sells
typical automotive features such as sunroofs.
But BlueHeat is far from typical. BlueHeat pre-heats your car's engine,
defrosts the windshield, and makes the interior of the car warm
independent of the engine. The inside is comfortable before you even
have to start the car. For folks in northern climes, the days of waiting
in the cold while the engine warms up enough to power the heater would
be over.
The BlueHeat device, which is mounted usually in the engine compartment,
is powered by the car's battery and from fuel from the fuel tank. (It
uses one eighth the fuel that an idling engine uses.) So in that sense,
it's like a miniature engine that performs the heating function much
more efficiently.
A digital timer can start BlueHeat, or a remote electronic key can start
it. The device currently retails for less than $1,600.
There are several environmental benefits to using BlueHeat. It uses much
less fuel to heat a cold car than an idling engine -- an idling engine
gets zero miles per gallon, after all. That of course saves fuel, and
results in less fuel being burned at idle, where the gas is burned less
completely and causes higher emissions than a moving car. Also, it saves
on engine wear caused by idling and driving a cold engine. Worn engines
burn more fuel, and burn that fuel less cleanly.
You can learn more about BlueHeat on Webasto's website
here.
There are a number of environment-friendly products and services to
check out on ENN Expo, where companies feature information about their
cutting-edge offerings to help make your life greener. Visit
ENN Expo.
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