The car market illustrates a large selection of solutions to what at first appears to be a transportation problem. Such a wide scope of solutions implies that much more is in play than moving passengers from A to B. Some features are at the expense of others such as high performance usually eliminates the possibility of incredible fuel savings. Maximizing nearly all characteristics usually implies a large financial outlay whether it is comfort, performance, or low fuel consumption.
Some people wish to believe that their "prized possession" is simply the best. That is usually more than a subjective analysis or wishful dreaming where the shortcomings are deemed unimportant. The Internet provides, sometimes humourous, pictures of people "stretching" the capability of their vehicle such as cars that are given the role of heavy transporters which is a usage not foreseen by the designers. Of course the danger, failure, and wear rate is abnormally high.
The same occurs in industrial machinery which is usually characterized by a design that has been optimized to solve a well defined problem. Better equipment has many of these features; consistent, reliable, efficient, clean, predictable, safe, repairable, and of course they tend to be more expensive. The expense of a heavy duty design sometimes requires the marketers of lesser units to "upgrade" the features and to declare that shortcomings are really features that were not understood.
Clean technology should mean more than "not visible to the naked eye". A 400,000 BTU Afterburner does virtually eliminate the coffee roasting odours and visible smoke but it can hardly be considered green technology. The 400,000 BTU/hr signifies 400,000 BTU/(114,000 BTU per US Gallon of gasoline) or 3.5 US gallons per hour of operation. Consumed in a car traveling at 55 mph that represents 15.5 miles per gallon, not really in the Prius performance standard.
Some natural gas roasters have countered with the claim that they recycle 100% of their air. That must be a statement originating in the marketing department because engineering has not figured out how to sustain a flame with air depleted of its oxygen.
Design involves more than covering up the problem, it is turning a problem into part of the solution. Good design is using the energy within the problem process to eliminate it and if possible to use the excess energy of that destruction to reduce the roasting energy cost.
