Local company handles fuel-efficient filters
By James Pletcher Jr. Herald-Standard
One local company is selling a product that may help deflate stratospheric gasoline prices.
Green Filter USA at 714 Braddock View Drive, Mount Braddock, is selling a fuel-efficient replacement air filter for just about any gasoline-powered vehicle on or off the road.
These are lifetime air filters that take the place of the standard disposable paper filters used in engines.
“We started selling these about four years ago,’ Mark German, Green Filter USA president, said, after he found the technology in Europe.
Marketed as a high-performance replacement for a standard air filter, Green Filter offers increased engine performance, the company said. It can boost horsepower and make the engine run more efficiently, German said. That, in turn, can boost gas mileage.
German is quick to explain, however, that the evidence of greater fuel efficiency is “testimonial. We can’t afford to go out and have long term testing done so we can’t claim it will add two, three or four miles per gallon.’ But Green Filter brochures explain the unit increases air flow to the engine’s cylinders resulting in a “more potent air/fuel mixture,’ which can increase mileage.
Green Filter USA has more than 60,000 in stock and has been selling about that many per year from the local facility.
The core of the Green Filter is a specially woven cotton cloth that filters dirt and debris from air entering the engine while allowing more airflow. Contained in a molded plastic frame, the filter is supported by a special wire mesh.
“Deep pleats in the cotton gauze ensure there is a 10-20 percent increase in surface area to draw more air into the engine,’ according to Green Filter. “The cotton gauze is made up of a medium and fine layer to trap and hold dirt, dust and moisture particles as small as .50 microns. The gauze is held in place by a strong, fine alloy mesh that allows the filter to perform its job perfectly.
“From year 2000 the EAQF manufacturing standard was awarded to Green Air Filters for consistent, high quality manufacturing standards. The range of filters is expanding all the time and the commitment to providing the customers with the best filtration technology available is always guaranteed,’ Green Filter said.
“This technology is about 11 or 12 years old,’ Jason Early, Green Filter USA marketing director, said. Cloth air filter technology, he added, has been around for more than three decades.
“We have about 1,000 molds here (to produce the various frames) and that gives us more than 3,200 applications.’ A Green Filter catalog shows the company has units for nearly every make and model car, some dating to the 1970s. Green Filters are also available for motorcycles, SUVs, ATVs and other engines.
Early said the product has already met with major demand.
“We are the exclusive supplier for Briggs and Stratton,’ a $3 billion company known for its lawn mower engines. Early said the company builds more than 11 million engines a year.
“We also supply filters to DaimlerChrysler for their high-performance vehicles,’ he said.
Early said the Green Filter, in addition to improving engine performance, is environmentally friendly.
“You might replace your regular paper air filter in your car 20 times over the course of 100,000 miles. That’s 20 disposable filters that help clog landfills. The Green Filter is a lifetime unit. You buy one and that’s all.
“You can wash it once a year and keep using it,’ he said, adding that even the cleaning solution and a special oil used to coat the cotton are biodegradable. Each filter comes with a lifetime warranty.
The company’s Web site explains the product originated as the Green Cotton Air Filter. The company was formed in 1995 and was borne out of the idea of designing, developing, manufacturing and supplying premium cotton air filters to the racing and motor sport industry. The experience and expertise gained from supplying customers like Peugeot, Citroen and Motorsport teams promoted the company to becoming Europe’s largest cotton air filter manufacturer.
German said he embraced the technology and began selling the filters after meeting with Green Filter officials at a high-performance auto show in Germany. He assembles components of the filter at his Mount Braddock plant and hopes to produce the entire unit in 2007 there. “We currently produce about 20 percent of the components,’ importing the rest from Europe.
In terms of cost, German said a diesel filter for one popular pickup costs on average $150. “We sell a Green Filter replacement for about $80.’
German said the reason the Green Filters aren’t standard equipment in all new vehicles is due to the high profits manufacturers get from producing paper air filters.
“It’s one of those things that true in auto manufacturing: there is more profit in selling replacement parts. Making paper air filters is a high-profit business for car companies.’
Early compared it to “filling your tank with gasoline once and never having to do it again. That’s not going to happen,’ as long as major parts suppliers sell the paper filters.
Currently, Green Filters are available through some stores, which can be located on the company’s Web site at www.greenfilterusa.com
. Internet sales are also available through the company’s Web site.
“We do all the marketing and sales for Green Filter in North America,’ Early said, adding the company displays the product at auto shows throughout the country.
“We have tests of the product underway at Chrysler and the Hummer division of GM, which means there could be a military application for the filter,’ German said.
“We make them for just about anything. We use the phrase race, ride or drive to show the scope,’ he said.
Limited by a small ad budget, German explained that much of the product’s reputation so far is through word of mouth. “But our business has already tripled because of that. Word of mouth gets the information out because of the people who use the filter and see that it makes a difference.’
“We are starting out very small with this but we think it can be huge,’ he added.
German is also president of two other companies at the Mount Braddock site: International Liner, which manufactures truck bed liners and Ground Force, which produces special stabilizing kits for four-wheel drive vehicles.
Total employment is about 30 people. German said he added five full-time workers when he began offering Green Filter.