Efficiency

A new study from MIT has examined modern technology​ through the lens of a 150-year-old economic theory of efficiency and resource consumption – and in almost all cases, the benefits of reducing required resources is cancelled out by the increase in consumer demand for them.

Car and aircraft engine makers are all chasing engine weight savings, but boat makers too are getting in on the act. Yamaha has unveiled a new F25 motor, which is just as powerful as the engine it replaces, but significantly lighter.

This refreshingly simple forced induction system for motorcycles won't give you the huge power output of a turbo system - but it can give you a boost of up to 0.6 bar and some 15-25 percent more power, torque and efficiency at "about a tenth" the price of a turbo setup.

Perovskite solar cell technology has made great strides over the past few years. Now researchers have developed a new manufacturing technique that could increase the output of a perovskite solar cell by up to 25 percent.

Swiss startup Insolight has developed a thin plastic overlayer that sits atop a solar panel and directs the sun's rays to a small area of very high performance solar cells to achieve a solar conversion efficiency of 36.4 percent.

Imagine if you were in charge of putting cars into shipping containers. Given all the shapes and sizes you might be working with, how would you know which ones to put together, and in what configurations? Well, that's where new racking software developed at the University of Warwick comes in.

Earlier this year, Ford unveiled its brand new EcoBlue diesel engine with fanfare of efficiency facts and savings stats. The engine isn't just efficient to run, but to produce too, with the new production line at its Dagenham Diesel Centre said to cut energy and water use by 50 per cent.

Elio Motors is an enigma of the motoring world, promising plenty but failing to deliver thus far. Every time the launch of its cars is pushed back, the screams of naysayers grow louder and louder, but Elio is looking to silence the doubters with the completion of its first E-Series test car.

Volkswagen has released a 1.5-liter Miller Cycle engine tasked with improving fuel consumption and increasing low-down torque.

Shell is perhaps best known for producing what goes into cars, rather than cars themselves. Now, the firm has taken the wraps off a car that it says will use a third less energy in its lifetime than a typical city car and around half the energy to build and run than a typical small family car.

Chalmers University of Technology is developing a new optimization tool that acts like an efficiency expert for industrial robots by smoothing their movements to reduce their energy consumption by as much as 40 percent.

The crazy engineers over at AMG's Affalterbach headquarters have decided that their pint-sized turbo A45 needed more power. Thanks to an extra 15 kW from its 2.0-liter motor, the updated A45 AMG will now hit 100 km/h (62mph) in just 4.2 seconds.