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JUL 09

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Tires Made from Orange Oil Instead of Petroleum

Written by Megan Treacy on 09/07/09

orange-oil-tire
Tire maker Yokohama has begun selling a new type of tire made mainly from orange oil instead of petroleum.  The substitution plus the use of natural rubber allows the tires to be 80 percent petroleum-free.

The concept for the Super E-spec was introduced by the company a year ago and won the Popular Mechanics Editor's Choice Award in 2008.  Beyond just replacing petroleum with a renewable resource, the new tire model has also shown a 20 percent reduction in rolling resistance, which can improve fuel economy by about 4 percent (not a huge difference, but every little bit helps).  The tires have just made it to market, but the company is working to place them on carmakers' hybrid models like the Toyota Prius.

While we love the idea of cutting out petroleum in the manufacturing of products, we'd like to hear more from the company about the entire life cycle of these tires.  Do they have a plan for recycling or sustainably disposing of them once they're no longer usable?

Earth 911

 

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written by Corinne, July 09, 2009
This article doesn't say anything about safety, what is the data on that?
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written by Roland, July 09, 2009
Is this something that might be applied to bike tires as well?
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smell?
written by Alissa, July 09, 2009
Does it smell like oranges? If this becomes a common substitute, are oranges going to become expensive, like bio-fuel did for soy beans?
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Orange oil...
written by Bob Wallace, July 09, 2009
I believe comes from the skin, not the flesh.

This might drive down the cost of OJ.

I doubt that many of us will be harmed by any price increase for orange zest.

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On the other end ...
written by Barney Sperlin, July 09, 2009
And a question about the "other end" of the life cycle: Do we know how much petroleum-based energy was used to make the tires in the first place?
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written by Greg Salter, July 13, 2009
Another new product made using virgin materials. Why can't we make a tyre using mainly recycled tyres?
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written by Fred, July 13, 2009
thats an interesting concept for tires
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Color?
written by Tom Konrad, July 15, 2009
Too bad they don't seem to be orange colored.
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Sounds delicious!
written by Al, July 16, 2009
But this will drive up the price of Orange Glo.
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written by Marci, July 16, 2009
Well, that explains why fresh squeezed orange juice is relatively cheap and whole oranges are getting pricier. If we don't find other ways to do things than raiding the refrigerator we will all have to eat dirt. Why don't we grow rubber trees and make tires locally?
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written by autostry, July 18, 2009
Are they choosing to use Orange oil because its much cheaper than petroleum or is it because it is more environment friendly? I believe that it is the first one. Because if it is the latter, then they probably should have reverted to recycling the old tires instead.
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Ya, but ...
written by magdalena81, July 20, 2009
How many acres of land will it take to make a tire? Will we have to cut up more of our increasibly more rare forests? Are we sure that this is more sustainable than petroleum?

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