Green monsters at the L.A. Auto Show

Extracting hydrogen produced from microbes offers a clean method of capturing the element, which is otherwise an energy-intensive process involving electricity, most of which is produced by coal in the U.S. The Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Lab and other universities have been studying algae-based hydrogen production for years.

But why did GM choose the Hummer for a “sustainability challenge,” particularly when those in the eco-lobby deride it as the antithesis of green manufacturing, or emblematic of conspicuous consumption?

“I think that’s exactly why,” Saucedo said. “There is a movement in the company I think to change the perception of this vehicle. We saw the original SUV off-road vehicle was for people who were really into the environment — somewhere along the line we kind of took a misstep, I would say. So the opportunity with this design challenge is to have another thought on what the possibilities are for a brand like Hummer.”

Claudia Duranceau, senior research scientist for emissions and recycling at Ford Motor Co., is not surprised that many of the design challenge entrants focused this year on recyclable car parts. She says it stems from a raised awareness of the materials used in carmaking and other manufacturing, like electronics. Governments, industry and environmental groups have promoted recycling as a means to prevent potentially harmful substances from entering landfills and leaching into nearby communities.

According to Ward’s 2005 “Motor Vehicle Facts & Figures” and the U.S. Department of Energy, at least 84 percent of the material content of each U.S. car is recycled. Also, more than 75 percent of each end-of-life vehicle (ELV) is recycled by weight, and about 95 percent of vehicles driven in the U.S. enter the recycling infrastructure at end of life — a high rate compared to other industries.

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While car-recycling programs in the U.S. are voluntary, Japan and Europe run mandated benchmarks. Japanese regulations and the European Union’s ELV directive require that carmakers recycle 95 percent of each automobile by 2015. The EU’s current ELV requirement is that firms recover 85 percent of each vehicle on the continent, with automakers taking on “all or a significant part” of the costs of doing so by 2007.

U.S. automakers set “preferred practices” via the Vehicle Recycling Partnership, which is run by the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR). Three years ago the group developed its third Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). In partnership with the Argonne National Laboratory and the American Plastics Council, the group is aiming to better sift through auto-shredder residue to recover potentially hazardous substances for recycling or containment prior to crushing. According to USCAR, the CRADA team is working to raise the U.S. automotive recycling percentage “to as close to 100 percent as conceivably possible.”

For all the flash of new materials and new production proposals on display at the L.A. design challenge, one environmental concern can’t be overlooked: the car’s impact during its use. “If you look at the energies and the resources that go into the vehicle, certainly the biggest demand on the environment is during the use phase,” said Duranceau, who is Ford’s engineering representative to the United States Council for Automotive Research, a consortium that includes DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM.

“It makes sense then to go into some of the lighter-weight materials to use renewable resources and to look at hybrid-type batteries that would conserve the demand for the natural resources. So certainly we would need to recycle those new materials and new components [at end of the cars' lives]. So we’re taking a much broader look at a vehicle, making it sustainable and environmentally friendly throughout its whole lifecycle.”

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