Explain the project Carbon Fibers versus Metal There is a rule-of-thumb that “if the weight of an automobile can be redu

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Explain the project
Carbon Fibers versus Metal
There is a rule-of-thumb that “if the weight of an automobile can
be reduced by
10%, then 6% of the annual cost of gasoline can be saved.” Light
weight and high
strength carbon fibers costing about $15-$20 per pound are
currently being
considered to replace the metal in automobile and aerospace
applications. (The
objective of recent research is to reduce this cost to$5 per
pound.) Engineers
believe they can economically reduce the weight of an automobile by
substituting
carbon fibers for metal to save 20% to 30% on fuel consumption each
year. Other
structures such as stronger wind turbines can also be built with
light weight
carbon fibers. After working through this module, you will be able
to evaluate the
economic trade-off between annual fuel savings and up-front cost of
carbon
fibers and to determine whether it is a smart trade-off.