Anyone who has watched the TDC show "Mythbusters" knows that filtered vegatable oil can be used in Diesal engines without modification. There must hundreds of thousands of gallons of vegtable oil used in fast food resturaunts (mostly for French Fries)that is simply discarded every year.
Tractor Trailor companies (which nearly exclusively use diesals) should take the lead in using this resource.
Comments anyone?
I don't know a ton about it--but from what I do know, more often biofuels refer to getting energy from biomass (underused parts like animal waste and stalks, etc, from crops, not the food parts, or waste) or from vegetable oil (like when people convert diesel cars to run on vegetable oil). In general, I think it's a good idea--doesn't cause global warming, not harmful when stored or spilled. But that's from an environmental and trade perspective, not an agriculture perspective.
Corn is for feeding starving children and the air is for breathing! The conbustion engine was dead in 1930! That's right - they have known how to build the electric car since the 1930's!!!!!!!! - Earn Snyder
Modern Progressive Independent
IM: earnsnyder@yahoo.com
For more policies visit www.appyp.com/fix_main.html
It's not like you shove corn cobs in the gas tank, Earn.
thats the whole idea behind ethanol fuel. use corn to create ethanol because it is one of the most suitable crops for the job. its actually creating a bit of a problem because we Americans aren't smart enough to increase production of corn to counter-balance the increase demand of corn( for traditional food and this new fuel market). some groups actually have to buy corn from out of the country, which doesn't make sense. America has the potential to grow enough corn to fuel ourselves and become completely independent of foreign fuel sources, but since the great depression, the US gov't has paid people not to grow crops in order to control price-look it up, its pretty interesting. If we , as Americans made the commitment to corn-ethanol and stuck to it, we could easily grow all of our fuel needs.
Switchgrass is showing itself to be a more economical crop for producing ethanol than corn.
http://journals.aol.com/kweinschen/Veritas/
THEY R JUST MEAN OLD PEOPLE...OF COURSE IN THE THIRTIES THERE WASNT ENUFF ELECT TO CHARGE THE STUPID THING...
Ethanol plants in rural Nebraska have done a great deal to improve the economy in parts of the state that always suffer most in economic downturns and see the least benefit in good times. Every time a new plant is built, high-quality jobs are created and training is available for skilled workers who might otherwise leave the state or move to larger cities like Omaha or Lincoln. Alternative fuels, whatever they might be, create economic opportunity.
...that show (with corn, at least) that it takes as much energy to create the ethanol than you get out of it.
Vegatable Oil is solution that can be implented NOW!
http://journals.aol.com/kweinschen/Veritas/
The energy debate for ethanol is a myth. Here's an article about 6 common misconceptions regarding ethanol.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/myths.html
Ohh, and I'm not biased in favor of ethanol. I drive a Waste Vegetable Powered car. So I'm on your side in the Veggie Oil thing, but don't knock ethanol without checking into it a bit more.
Vegatable oil is different from ethanol in that deisel engines will run on it without modification. Rudolf's Deisel's first engine ran on peanut oil.
http://journals.aol.com/kweinschen/Veritas/
Apparently Illinois isn't to progressive when it comes to promoting alternative fuels.
http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/local_news/1021491.txt
Sounds to me like the neo-fascists are running Illnois Dept. of Revenue. I doubt "vegatable oil" is even LISTED as a fuel in the tax code, so I'd wait for the State to sue, then counter-sue and demand a trial by jury. Either that or join the Obama campaign and blog all over about this draconian act.
http://journals.aol.com/kweinschen/Veritas/
THE SAME FOOD STOCKS...
Political payoff to Iowa. Be carefull what you wish for.
Check out Changeing World Technologies. They can turn almost any kind of trash or garbage into oil but can't compete against taxpayer subsidised big oil. The system is broken.
...would be to McDonald's and other fast food places. They are the ones with tons of used vegatable oil from french fries.
Admitedly, they are rich enough, but what with the frivilous burning coffee lawsuit that got slapped with a few years ago, they could probably use a few more bucks.
http://journals.aol.com/kweinschen/Veritas/
NO CONCEPT HERE SAY WE COULD BUILD 3 MILLION MACDONALDS AND GET EVERYONE TO EAT FRENCH FRIES AND WE WOULDNT EVEN FUEL A SMALL COMMUNITY OF VECHICLES....DO U PEOPLE HAVE ZERO CONCEPT....CHECK OUT THE BARELS OF CRUDE USED EACH DAY AND TRY TO TURN THAT IN VEGGIE OIL... WE COULD PLOW UP THE NORTH POLE AFTER THE GLOBAL WARMING JUST BEFORE THE GLOBAL COOLING SMALL WINDOW TO GET MAYBE 5 PERCENT OF NEEDED PRODUCT....GET A LIFE A REAL LIFE OR A CAVE
The Brazilians have been doing interesting things with sugarcane ethanol. Corn ethanol has a power generated/power consumed ratio of roughly 1.4 to 1 (nearly even). Sugarcane has a ratio of nearly six to one. Of course, the only suitable place in the States for growing sugarcane is the Gulf Coast, but it merits investigation. Brazil has signifcantly reduced their dependence on foriegn energy and have begun to export their ethanol to Japan, South Africa, and other countries.
The problem with ethonol/gas mixtures is that cars have to be modified to run on flex fuels. That's why Brazil finally became energy independant.
The solution is great....if everyone could afford to buy a new car. I think that's 'part of the plan'.
http://journals.aol.com/kweinschen/Veritas/
U ARE NOT GETTING THE WHOLE STORY FROM YOUR INFO SOURCE... DO MUCH MORE READING
It's also the reason why 50% of the species in brazil will be extinct by 2024 from habitat loss.
Browncoats Unite!
Diesels can tolerate a wider range of fuels, and we should definitely encourage biofuels. I am not convinced corn ethanol is good, but as noted there are developing technologies that can turn nearly any cellulose into fuel.
There is no one "silver bullet" solution, vegetable oil is just one component, but an important one.
US Marine vet Vietnam 4/68 - 8/69
But corn based bio fuels are bad. We could plant the entire nation in corn and convert 100% to ethanol - would fill less than 10% of our demand at virtually no cost savings. Cellulose and cane based ethanol are the most viable, and diesel from coal is a historically proven technology going back to WWII. And boy, coal is one thing we have in abundance...
There is also a proven emerging technology to produce hydrogen from deionized water that is injected directly into the fuel stream of conventional internal combustion engines which has a threefold effect - cleaner engines, greater fuel efficiency (10% +/-) and reduced hydrocarbon emissions.
We can get there assuming we can somehow stymie the efforts of big oil geared toward preventing our success.
Mark Greene
Texas Democrat in the Middle
the titles says it all, thats it, if you wanna hear more say something about Mormons so I can defend my religion :)
I have no facts to back this up but I believe someone could and should find a water plant that they can plant in rivers and streams that would absorb nitrates and other contaminates. They would then harvest these plants and process them to produce alcohol or methane.This would help clean the water, produce renewable energy, put people to work and provide a profit for the company.I also believe that this should be done with as little government involement and interference as possible.
Troy Helt
It's really a pick your poison kind of thing. There is good and bad aspects to producing ethanol, biodiesel, coal liquifaction, electric cars, and hydrogen. Not one of these things will 100% cure our demands for oil. But they all will help.
Supposedly, making biodiesel from algae is the best way to go.
Currently Willy Nelson in Texas and Morgan Freeman in Mississippi have biodiesel plants in the works. Artists have traditionally lead the way with developing new technologies.
Diesel made his engine to run off of vegetable oil, not petrol.
It is my understanding that alkalai and ethanol must be added to the veggie oil to produce a usable product.
On the show Cool Fuel Roadtrip they showed that hemp oil (another issue entirely) is the best of the sources and when they used it they needed to add those to the oil before tanking up. Not only does hemp oil work best but can be grown in areas in which no other crop can be grown successfully.
Greasy Rider showed a parallel system being sold to add filtered grease without those modifications.
One ecological problem has already surfaced in Indonesia where they are cutting down rainforests to implement biodiesel production.
I agree with Earl Snyder above that the electric car is the way to go. India is leading the way with an electric auto being produced in Bangalore.
If http://www.Hemp4Fuel.com were http://www.JackHerer.com 'z 1938 Popular Mechanic's in Henry Ford's 1941 http://www.HempCar.org , we might not have needed the 1942 USDA WW2 movie "Hemp for Victory" in this http://www.LifeAfterTheOilCrash.net yet ........ but .......... I told my Father's friend that the WORLD was CHANGING because Canada was growing INDUSTRIAL HEMP and he said "NO. It iz NOT changing. It iz going back to the wat it used to be.". Imagine that. Prohibition was NOT to get rid of the DRUNK's. Prohibition was to get rid of the ALCOHOL FUEL. RAW sugar CANNOT be imported, right ??? ONLY processed SUGAR can be brought in this OILy Sand-Witch Country, right ??? Don't worry, be happy. Use my new diet idea of my http://www.AWOLSpirits.com www.AWOLSpirit.com
We can only peak our energy expenditures after we stop wasting precious sunlights. Plant trees where its barren, put solar panels on your roof. the more concrete gets hit by the sun the more heat goes to waste without useful work being done, either in the burning of the wood or the use of the DC output of panels. Even wind (harnessed by windmills) is allowed its continuum because of the air being warmed and moved through its convection currents. Even nuclear energy will run out. The only thing that we can depend on is the very thing that will destroy the earth in a few billion years anyway, by which point we should have settled Mars, Europa, Titan, etc., that is if we haven't blocked out the sun with carbon dioxide and methane. To a brighter future for us all!