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But significant opposition never materialized, Eberhardt adds, because a joint government-industry research group that included DOE, EPA and the diesel engine manufacturers proved that removing the sulfur would cost no more than a dime a gallon.

And with the help of the diesel manufacturers, Eberhardt's office created a joint research program to produce clean, light-duty diesel engines.

Eberhardt and his colleagues at the Energy Department and the EPA proved that diesel engines could work in passenger vehicles and also meet the same EPA emissions standards as gasoline engines. In fact, he says, the new diesels are more effective in preventing the release of particulate matter than the catalytic converters on today's automobiles.

As a result, all diesel engine vehicles—from passenger cars to 18-wheelers—manufactured since 2008 must be equipped with control technologies, similar to the catalytic converter, that reduce particulate matter and nitrogen oxide, NOx, for short, the causes of the black "soot" that diesel engines emit.

"Cars consume about eight million barrels of gasoline a day and trucks use only about two million barrels a day of diesel fuel," Eberhardt explains. "It's hard to argue with that logic," he adds, to switch to the more energy-efficient diesel engine.

Since 2006, Eberhardt has been chief scientist in the Office of Vehicle Technology. It's a bully pulpit for him to call attention to the benefits of the diesel-powered passenger car.

"There is nothing that we have done, we and our partners in the transportation area, that will contribute more to human health and greater fuel efficiency," Eberhardt says.

He predicts that by 2060, 80 to 90 percent of the vehicles on the road will be hybrids, because petroleum-based fuels will be much scarcer and more expensive than they have ever been. "We are finding one barrel of petroleum for every four that we consume, so it won't take long before that supply is all but ended worldwide."

He says the nation must start moving toward all forms of renewable energy now because every giant petroleum field in the world is past its production peak.

"Finally, we have a president who realizes that we are not going to continue to live on fossil resources," Eberhardt adds.

And to those who are looking toward all-electric vehicles to replace the gasoline engine, Eberhardt says the main unresolved problem is energy storage in the batteries that would power them.

"People don't realize how much energy there is in a gallon of gasoline," he says. "It's David Hubler is the associate editor of Washington Technology. very difficult to compete with hydrocarbons for energy density." For the present, gasoline is still the better energy source, Eberhardt adds.

But, he warns, "If you think that $4 a gallon is expensive, that's a joke." In a few years, gas will be four or five time that, "about $20 a gallon—if you can even get it."

And although biofuels are significant, Eberhardt believes the only way ethanol will ultimately make a strong contribution to our energy requirements is if we turn all our corn into ethanol. And even that, he adds, would account for only about one million of the 20 million barrels of oil that are consumed each day. "And clearly we can't turn all of our corn into ethanol," he says.

"Diesels are coming," he says. ~

David Hubler '65G is the associate editor of Washington Technology magazine (http://washingtontechnology.com/)

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