The plastic part that could save 1.5 billion gallons of fuel

Most industries are short-sighted. They put off investing in products that could save energy, even when the payoff is proven and relatively fast. Case in point, the trucking industry. According to this story from Scientific American (reprinted from Climatewire), the U.S. Department of Energy claims that if every long-haul truck in America would install a set of plastic fairings in front of the wheels under the trailer, it would cut fuel use 7-12 percent. That would save 1.5 billion gallons of fuel a year. The fuel savings would pay for the part within six to 18 months, according to Mitch Greenberg, president of SmartTruck, one of the Greenville, S.C., companies that developed the product.