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#11
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Weisse Luft wrote:
Diesel is the fuel of the future. It can be made from vegetable oils (biodiesel) or from the newly developed "bio-digester" which can turn almost anything into oil, oil suitable as diesel fuel after treating. You get far more energy out than you put in with diesel. Not so with hydrogen, alcohol or methane. I have high hopes for biodiesel too. I hope that it can at least keep mechanized farming intact to some degree. But even that level of usage will require a reduction in population as an excess biodiesel will mean cutting the food supply. We've spent 40 years in the US, paving our best farmland and building suburbs on it. And we've used salt fertilizers to destroy the topsoil. This situation is going to take a century or so to reverse. But at least times will be exciting. Jack Dingler |
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#12
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Weisse Luft wrote in
: Diesel is the fuel of the future. It can be made from vegetable oils (biodiesel) or from the newly developed "bio-digester" which can turn almost anything into oil, oil suitable as diesel fuel after treating. You get far more energy out than you put in with diesel. Not so with hydrogen, alcohol or methane. I agree. I think my next vehicle is going to have a turbo diesel. They get tremendous mileage and with a turbo, have plenty of power. A lot of people have set up biodiesel stills and get their fuel for free (waste cooking oil from restaurants). All the auto companies have to do is focus on getting auto diesels cleaner burning and quieter (I sure do hate those Dodge trucks with the noisy, clattering engines) and maybe more reliable (remember that old Oldsmobile engine that was basically a converted gasoline engine? - they didn't last too long). -- Mike DeMicco |
#13
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Mike DeMicco wrote:
I agree. I think my next vehicle is going to have a turbo diesel. They get tremendous mileage and with a turbo, have plenty of power. A lot of people have set up biodiesel stills and get their fuel for free (waste cooking oil from restaurants). If by "free", you mean $0.50-0.80 per gallon depending on the price of methanol and the cost of your heat source, I agree with you. The materials needed to make the methoxide catalyst aren't as cheap as used cooking oil. For a look at biodiesel from the viewpoint of the activist homebrewers: http://www.journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html There's no inherent durability problem with diesels, my 1979 Mercedes has about 300,000mi on it and the engine's in much better shape than the rest of the car. GM did indeed market some defective diesels when gas prices were pushing above $1US per gallon for the first time. Mitch. |
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