Snowmobile

In the Swedish highlands the snowmobile is the obvious way to make your way. It´s used as a spare time entertainment and as a working tool in forest work and reindeer breeding. The snowmobile is a simple aid in order to take you forward in the nature. On the other hand the snowmobile is not environmental friendly - it destroys nature, the environment and has high fuel consumption. Other disturbing environmental causes is releasing of exhaust fumes and the loud noise from roaring engines. This affects us in a negative way. The biggest waste comes from older two-stroke engines.

Environmental friendly engines
The snowmobile becomes more environmental friendly with the developing of new four-stroke engines. New technology decreases wastes of exhaust fumes, environmental dangerous matters and fuel consumptions considerably. Compared with the two-stroke engine, the four-stroke engine has:

• 95-98 % less waste of hydrocarbon
• 85 % less waste of carbon monoxide
• Decreases waste of poisonous matters with 90 %
• Less noise

If you drive an old two-stroke snowmobile you can fill it with alkylate petrol, which is better for the environment. The difference is that nitrogen gases decreases with 30- 60% and the producing of ozone close to the ground decreases with 40%.

It’s due to several things that the four-stroke engine is more environmental friendly than the two-stroke engine. One thing is that the incineration of the mixture of air and fuel is more complete. and happens in a more closed room. In a two-stroke engine, some of the exhaust fumes leak out in the exhaust system before the piston has time to close the exhaust valve and the spark plug ignitions the air fuel mixture.

Ethanol
Instead of filling snowmobiles with fossil fuel that gives carbon dioxide waste, ethanol-snowmobiles are being produced. Snowmobiles that run on ethanol are only in an experimental phase in Sweden, but the technology exists and is used in the USA and Canada. Probably, ethanol is the fuel of the future because it decreases the waste a lot.

The climate changes
The climate changes are drastic, the snow and the ice melt and it becomes hotter. This will cause the selling of snowmobiles to decrease with the years, but nevertheless it will sell. A positive thing for those who love snowmobiles is that these changes in the climate will increase the sale of mobiles that go on water will increase.