Recent Comments:
Apple tied to Cingular {BloggingStocks}
Jan 15th 2007 8:34PM I understand the Cingular brand is going away. I wonder how that will affect Apple.
"Nanodiesel" technology invalid due to human background, tech difference? {Autoblog Green}
Jul 30th 2006 2:06PM When I first saw the posting about this, my reaction was, "I believe when I see it." Heating garbage means energy *in*, and I didn't see any indication that such a process would have a positive energy balance. I'm a definite bidiesel supporter (makes a lot more sense than ethanol or hydrogen), but seeing the background of Michael Spitzauer (gotta wonder about Mr. Koch now) leads me to conclude that there is a very high probability that there is less to his 'research' than meets the eye.
Never underestimate the profit potential of a "politically correct" scam (ADM knows this one very well, having successfully made millions on their government-subsidized MTBE scam, and now is doing the same with ethanol). To avoid getting sucked into scams like this, it is necessary to be attentive and critical of any scheme that appeals to your own beliefs, which is not something that people find easy to do.
I think that biodiesel is the second best of the current alternatives to dinofuel, the first being SVO (even though SVO use requires some engine mods). Ethanol has problems with economics, toxcity, and pollution. Hydrogen is way beyond stupid. Electrics have some potential, but they aren't ready for prime time (safety problems, economics, and pollution in the form of coal-fired electricity generation and hazardous materials requiring special handling for recycling). Hybrids, especially diesel-electric, might be the way to go, if something like the Aptera actually becomes real. I was impressed by the Tesla, but I'm still waiting for the real electric (or hybrid) that I can actually afford, preferably as a small pickup truck.
The main thing to concentrate on with regard to any form of energy is how to use less of it. For instance, due to short-sighted government-enforced restrictions on using rail transportation (due to rail company lobbying) to haul OTR trucks. Did you realize that it is ILLEGAL in the US for a rail service to haul a complete OTR rig? That's also way beyond stupid. If I was an OTR driver, I'd be tickled pink to drive my rig onto a flatcar, and sit in a passenger car reading, napping, watching a movie, or listening to music while crossing the country in a train -- for less than the cost of driving the rig on the same trip. And allowing that would be a big win-win-win.
ADM gets into biodiesel in Brazil {Autoblog Green}
Jul 29th 2006 10:44AM This is not particularly good news for Brazil. For starters, soybean is not the optimal feedstock for biodiesel.
I'd rather adapt a diesel to SVO than send ADM any more of my money. And SVO would be a marvelously good fuel in Brazil (warm climate year 'round in most of the country).
One more biofuel to add to the list: bio-hydrogen {Autoblog Green}
Jul 28th 2006 4:50PM If hydrogen can be produced with biological processes, then one of the three show-stoppers is overcome. Then hydrogen, instead of being monumentally stupid, becomes merely dumb. We still have to find a safe way to transport it (biodiesel is already safer and easier to handle), and a good, economical way to use it (there are actually more hydrogen atoms in a gallon of biodiesel than in a gallon of liquid hydrogen, and the energy density of biodiesel is substantially better that hydrogen, and biodiesel doesn't embrittle metal containers, and biodiesel doesn't have such a wide explosive mixture with air, and biodiesel doesn't require completely new engine technology, etc., etc., etc., etc....).
Biodiesel influx means game's over for synthetic glycerin {Autoblog Green}
Jul 27th 2006 2:20PM Fortunately, glycerin is non-toxic and biodegradable. It is used as an emusifier and/or sweetener in some foods, although I don't much care for glycerin-sweetened syrups because they do raise blood sugar levels, despite claims to the contrary. It can also be used as a fuel, although it isn't a very good one. In order to bolster the biodiesel market, we need to come up with useful things to do with massive quantities of glycerin.
Personally, I'd like to see more research done in ways to use SVO, which would solve this problem, as well as being more economic (less processing involved, and no toxic chemicals needed). Seems to me that most of the problems with SVO would be solved by using a very small heated and well-insulated secondary fuel tank (maybe 8-10 oz), and maybe two or more fuel pumps.
Mexico's largest oil field almost drained? {Autoblog Green}
Jul 25th 2006 3:52PM Ethanol (a politically-correct vote-buying scheme) is a lousy fuel, and corn (the currently popular feedstock) is a lousy source of ethanol.
Biodiesel, in addition to being more energy dense and safer to handle, can be used in unmodified diesel engines, right now. (BTW, there are better feedstocks than soybeans for biodiesel. Algae, for instance, which doesn't require pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, and can be grown on stuff we currently process out of our wastewater before we can drink it again.) If we really wanted to, we could have a majority of the automobiles in the US running on biodiesel (or biodiesel/supercap/battery hybrids) in less than 5 years. And 100% in 10 years. On about the same amount of resources currently devoted to growning corn.
It might make even more sense to build engines that could run from SVO. It would take about the same amount of modification of a diesel engine to run SVO as it takes to make a gasoline engine efficiently run on ethanol, and the result would be about twice as economical.
As for dino-juice, there has been a way discovered to extract oil from oil sand for less than the cost of conventional drilling. And there is a very large deposit of oil sand in Colorado. One in Israel, too, which the Arab world is sure to find disconcerting.
So, the Doom and Gloom report may be somewhat premature. Except maybe for Mexico, but their biggest problem is not that they are running out of oil. It's having a government whose primary distinguishing political characteristic is corruption.
Sundancer wins High School Solar Car Challenge again {Autoblog Green}
Jul 23rd 2006 1:48PM The source article says that the vehicle was entirely solar-powered, but it also had storage batteries. Hmmm... Storage batteries could have been charged prior to the race... Storage batteries also probably contributed a lot to the weight of the vehicle (which is close to the 850 lbs of the Aptera). Suggestion to the students: See if you can use supercaps instead, to reduce weight.
Sundancer wins High School Solar Car Challenge again {Autoblog Green}
Jul 23rd 2006 1:36PM Interesting accomplishment! The students involved are to be congratulated (even the ones that didn't win). I am especially impressed that a solar-powered vehicle could achieve 60mph, even if that requires a flyweight vehicle, an underweight driver, and fancy aerodynamics. (I wonder if the driver was permitted to contribute muscle power...)
I could see that this technology could be used to supplement the hybrid diesel/supercap technology of the recently-announced (if not yet real) 300mpg Aptera. While sunlight is not reliable enough to the sole source of power for city commuting, many of us park our cars outdoors for 8 or 9 hours per day, and here in Dallas, we get significant sunlight about 300 days a year. Lately, we've been getting LOTS of sunshine... For short commuting trips, 8 or 9 hours of sunlight might boost the Aptera to 600mpg+.
For that matter, a way to contribute muscle power to the Aptera might significantly boost fuel mileage.
Hybrids are becoming the economical choice for commercial vehicles {Autoblog Green}
Jul 21st 2006 7:39PM For a heavy vehicle that makes a lot of stops, a hybrid can make sense. A small diesel or SVO engine running at constant load putting any excess energy into a supercapacitor bank would get the best of both worlds, and regenerative braking would not only save energy, but reduce maintenance substantially.
Note, I mentioned supercapacitors, not batteries. Battery technology still isn't quite ready for prime time, and supercaps are probably going to be lighter, cheaper, and more durable than equivalent in batteries for the foreseeable future. As batteries improve, so will supercaps.
New study: Biodiesel beats ethanol {Autoblog Green}
Jul 20th 2006 10:05AM If this 'study' took longer than 15 minutes, and cost more than $10, then somebody spent waaaaaay too much effort researching the blindingly obvious. The other thing out there in 'politically correct' land that is stupider than ethanol is hydrogen. When the total economic picture is examined, biodiesel blows away the other alternative fuels.
Best idea I've seen to date is the combination of a small diesel running at constant load, coupled with a supercapacitor and electric motor to meet the variable power demand of an automobile.
