Posted: 03/10/2004 at 12:00:00 AM PST by Larry M. Edwards

SAN DIEGO -- Four years from now, when athletes from around the world descend on Beijing, China, for the 2008 Olympics, the air quality will be noticeably better due to reduced emissions from the city's buses and other vehicles. The same will be true in Shanghai for soccer's World Cup in 2010. The cleaner air will be due in large part to a local manufacturer of a fuel additive that reduces exhaust emissions 30 to 40 percent or more.

The additive is an ester-based product dubbed Ethos Fuel Re-formulator and is produced by Ethos Environmental Inc. in South San Diego.

"The air quality regulations there are comparative to the 1950s here, so we are a solution for them," said Ethos President Enrique De Vilmorin. "If you take 15 percent off the emission rolls in any city, you're going to make a difference."

And with the price of gas at record levels in this country, Americans can also benefit from using the product, its proponents say.

In some cars, the addition of Ethos FR has improved gas mileage 50 percent or more, but the company's official line calls for a 7 to 19 percent improvement, depending on a number of factors, De Vilmorin said.

He stresses that a person's driving habits have a huge effect on gas mileage, so someone who drives with a lead foot on the accelerator is not going to see the improvement that someone driving more conservatively will.

But it's the reduced emissions he really wants to talk about, not improved mileage.

"That's really the only fair way to do a test, because there are a lot of variables that affect gas mileage," he said. However, because reduced emissions means that more of the fuel is converted into energy rather than going out the exhaust pipe, that also translates to reduced fuel consumption and improved gas mileage.

It pays for itself not only in lower fuel costs, he said, but because it will extend the life of the engine, and it will increase the likelihood of a vehicle passing the state-mandated smog test.

The product works because it is a super lubricator, explains Jerry Schnitzius, the general manager of Pacific Waste Services, the San Diego division of Allied Waste Industries, the second-largest trash collection company in the nation.

For three years, Allied has been adding Ethos FR to its truck fuel, reducing exhaust emissions, fuel consumption and maintenance costs. The product is also added to the power steering and transmission fluids.

"We're absolutely sold on it," Schnitzius said. "It reduced emissions from our trucks by 65 percent.

"It saves us money," he added. "It's also the right thing to do."

Two years ago, Allied received the Earth Day Corporate Award for making a difference to the environment and saving valuable resources, including money, crediting Ethos FR.

The company's cars have benefited from about a 10 percent improvement in gas mileage, Schnitzius said.

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