HOUSTON — The need for more energy, from freeways to
battlefields, could be slashed by making fossil-fuel burners
more efficient and renewables more dependable, speakers at a
conference here said Wednesday. A prime example cited is the
automobile engine. Lawrence Burns, a former General Motors
executive who is now director of the program on sustainable
mobility at Columbia University, said 75 percent of the energy
generated by cars is lost as heat and friction and that much of
the remainder is used to move heavy components, leaving enormous
potential to boost fuel efficiency. Only 1 percent of the energy
generated by vehicles is used to move drivers, he said. “I've
concluded that we have a system design opportunity, not an
energy problem,” Burns said. “When we're wasting 99 percent of
the energy we're using to move a person in a car, we're seeing a
huge opportunity before us.” As with other energy uses, a key to
major change will involve harnessing emerging technologies. An
example is self-driving cars such a