Environment: Back to the days of steam?

A British company is taking motoring back to the days of the Stanley Steamer: it reckons that steam power could be used in a hybrid system to make a conventional petrol engine more efficient.

Clean Power Technologies of Newhaven, East Sussex, is developing a system which captures otherwise lost exhaust heat, runs it through an enclosed accumulator to heat water, then creating steam which can be used to power auxilliary systems such as air conditioning or refrigeration units in trucks.

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The company hopes to have a prototype up and running later this autumn and is planning to supply the technology for a trial with Safeway delivery vehicles in the US.

Ultimately, the steam could also be used to help power the engine's pistons, working in parallel with the internal-combustion set-up.

CPT's CEO Abdul Mitha told The Guardian: 'When you talk of steam people think you are going backwards. Anywhere where you are wasting a lot of heat, we can go in, capture the heat and turn it into energy savings. Steam has tremendous power. If it can drive a steam locomotive, why can't it drive an automotive engine?'

CPT hopes to apply its technology to boats as well as lorries, and by the end of 2011, it aims to build a steam-hybrid car.