GM's efforts in fuel efficiency and pollution reduction

Frédéric Racine, GM Canada District Sales Manager (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)

Montreal, Quebec - Yesterday, General Motors presented their measures for saving fuel and reducing air pollution. It's more of a reminder, since a lot of stuff shared with us was announced previously, but it's nice to get a condensed summary of their efforts.

First, some interesting numbers. Smog in Canada is caused by a variety of sources. In 2005, industries were responsible for 37% of smog, while 9.5% was caused by cars and light-duty trucks. What's important to know is that new vehicles only represent 0.1% of what creates smog. That means your uncle's 1982 Grand Prix is a very bad polluter, even if he washes and waxes it every weekend.

As for greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG), 46% is caused by stationary fuel combustion. Cars and light trucks account for 12.5%, but new vehicles are responsible for only 1% of GHG emissions.

Fatima Dharsee, Car Heaven Program Manager (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)

So, the greatest measure in reducing air pollution is to take all the cars and trucks built before, say, 1990 and scrap them. Fortunately, the Clean Air Foundation and GM are partners in the Car Heaven program, which promotes the retirement of older, higher polluting vehicles. When you turn in your rustbucket to Clean Air, GM will give you a $1,000 credit on the purchase of one of their new vehicles. Since GM launched this initiative, about 20,000 people have taken advantage of that credit, so the plan seems successful.

Also, since its introduction in July 2000, the Clean Air program sent over 45,000 rustbuckets to the crusher. According to program manager Fatima Dharsee, more than 1,700 cars have been taken off the roads of Quebec since last summer. More information can be found on their website at www.carheaven.ca.

Now, what tricks does General Motors have up its sleeve to reduce fuel consumption and air pollution? Active Fuel Management, E85

2007 GMC Sierra SLE 4x4 with Active Fuel Management (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)

Ethanol-fueled vehicles, hybrid powertrains and fuel cell research are among the most important ones.

Formerly known as Displacement on Demand, Active Fuel Management shuts off half the cylinders of the engine under light loads, such as puttering at low speeds on the highway. The 5.3-liter V8 then becomes a V4 and consumes less fuel, and can reactivate the cylinders that were on break in a fraction of a second. GM's 3.9-liter V6 also gets AFM for 2007, which shuts off 3 of 6 cylinders when full power is not required.

The first car I tested that was equipped with this cylinder-deactivation system was the 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP. At the time, I was disappointed about not having a light that turns on to indicate that I was running on half of the 5.3-liter V8's cylinders. GM's new models now have this indicator, which can be found next to the fuel-consumption average readout.

2007 Chevrolet Impala (Photo: Philippe Champoux, Auto123.com)

The 2007 Chevrolet Impala will feature Active Fuel Management with its 3.9-liter V6, and a bunch of other models in GM's divisions get AFM with their 5.3-liter V8 engines, including the redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, which is reaching showrooms this week. By the way, I had the opportunity to briefly drive a brand-new 2007 Sierra SLE, but we'll have full coverage on GM's full-size pickups later this month on Auto123.com.