Here are several links all about ethanol. This includes instructions for making your own still to produce your own ethanol, and helpful tips for converting your vehicle to run on ethanol, if you don’t already have a flex fuel vehicle.
Even since the year 2000, around the time this article was written, there have been many changes and lots of research done in this area. That article said Zero Pollution Motors in France would probably have the first air-powered vehicle, the e.Volution; this same company will be unveiling a competitively-priced six-seater in North America next year. But, even considering all the changes that will take place in the next year or two, we do good in looking at this subject a little further today.
The aforementioned e.Volution is supposedly able to go about 124 miles before it needs to be refueled with compressed air. It still requires oil, but less than a quart, and it only has to be changed every 31,000 miles. This vehicle made its debut in Johannesburg, South Africa at the Auto Africa Expo 2000.
There is still much debate as to whether or not this type of vehicle is actually more environmentally friendly. They still require electricity to compress the air in the tanks, and some argue that the pollution is merely transferred from the car’s exhaust to the electrical power plant. That power plant most likely still relies on fossil fuels for its energy.
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We’ve looked at several types of more-fuel-efficient vehicles here, but we haven’t yet touched on something as revolutionary as this could become. HERE is a page of facts concerning the history of compressed air in conjunction with transportation. One of the more interesting things to note from that page is the several places where the inventors claimed the vehicle could run “forever” or for “months and months before its air tank must be artificially refilled.” This is definitely something I’ll be watching as more research is done on compressed air vehicles. If the tank can’t refill itself or recycle the air, I want to know why not, in uncomplicated terms. If inventors of the 1980’s could invent a vehicle and claim it could go 800 miles before filling up, don’t you think our inventors could do a little better now-a-days?
The concept is not a new one. Compressed air locomotives were regularly used in coal mines in the early 1900’s because they created no heat or sparks. This was wonderful for the mines where explosion was always a danger. Jules Vern wrote a novel called Paris in the 20th Century which showed glass skyscrapers as well as air-powered vehicles. Apparently he was a little before his time there.
Compressed air can be incorporated into hybrids with batteries or fuel tanks. They can also use regenerative braking, but we’ll look more into how they work in a later article. I believe this is something to keep you eye on. With gas prices as they are, and no prosepect of them ever coming significantly down in the near future, I expect we’ll see a lot more research done on anything that will reduce our dependence on oil.
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Is it really possible for this extremely irritating weed (to put it mildly) to be useful? Is there something that we can turn this stuff into other than goat feed? Well, according to some, the answer is “perhaps.” Theoretically it is possible, but there are still kinks to be worked out.
Known as liquified petroleum gas (LPG), this alternative fuel is a bi-product of natural gas and crude oil production. Propane is the source of about 2% of all energy in the United States, but only 2% of that is used as transportation fuel. Nevertheless, it is the third most common fuel, following gasoline and diesel, and the most widely used alternative fuel. This is probably because of its wide-spread availability.
Propane is a vapor when under normal temperatures and pressures, but it turns into a colorless, odorless liquid when it is put under pressure. It is stored in tanks usually pressurized around 300 pounds per square inch, but is vaporized when sent to the engine. However, the introduction of liquid propane injection (LPI) engines may change that.
LPG is mostly domestically produced, and it is cleaner burning than either gasoline or diesel, but a gallon of LPG has about 25% less energy than a gallon of gasoline. Still, the propane tanks are about 20 times more resistant to puncture than gasoline tanks, and it has the lowest flammability of all the alternative fuels.
Most vehicles that use LPG are fleet trucks and public service vehicles (eg. taxi cabs and buses), but many conventional vehicles can be retrofitted for propane operation. Liquid propane injection is the future for propane as an alternative fuel. It promises higher mileage, and cleaner burning than LPG. Currently LPI is only used in medium weight vehicles such as: delivery vehicles, school buses, shuttle buses, etc.
Natural Gas is a domestically-produced fossil fuel that is non-corrosive, non-toxic, and non-carcinogenic. It is one of the cleanest-burning alternative fuel options on the market today. Natural gas is used in either compressed (CNG) or liquified (LNG) form, usually compressed. LNC is usually only used in heavy-duty vehicles.
Vehicles can run solely on natural gas, but there are also some dual- or bi-fuel vehicles that can also run on gasoline or diesel. Dual-fuel vehicles require two separate fueling systems because CNG is stored in high-pressure, up to 3600 pounds per square inch, fuel tanks. Natural gas vehicles aren’t mass produced; the only new vehicle available in the United States is the Honda Civic GX NGV. However, conventional vehicles can be retrofitted for CNG. CNG vehicles get the same fuel economy as conventional gasoline vehicles on gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) basis.
Natural gas can be blended with hydrogen to make HCNG (20% hydrogen, 80% CNG); this is just the first step towards hydrogen-based transportation in the future.
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Ethanol is a biofuel that is becoming increasingly popular in the public eye. Although it has, in reality, been used for years the recent talk of an energy crisis has brought it to the forefront as a possible fix to the petroleum problem. Ethanol is currently blended into approximately 46% of the United States’ fuel supply. In fact, about 18% of the US’ corn crop in 2006 went into ethanol production, but it can also be made from other things such as: sorghum, corn cobs, corn stalks, wheat straw, rice straw, and switch grass. The USDA says that ethanol production adds about 30¢ per bushel of corn. The United States and Brazil are the largest ethanol producers in the world today. The US makes it using corn; Brazil uses sugarcane to produce it cheaper.
There are some disadvantages to ethanol however. It can’t travel through pipelines with gasoline because it will pick up unwanted residue. This means that it must be trucked, trained, or barged in which is both complicated and expensive. It also has less energy than regular gasoline which causes consumers to fill up more frequently. Another big problem is that ethanol is actually helping to increase fuel prices rather than drive them down! It all depends on your priorities now: save the earth or your wallet. Apparently you can’t have both… yet.
According to the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) the technical definition of “Biodiesel” is as follows:
A fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated B100, and meeting the requirements of ASTM D 6751.
Plant oil is the largest source of biodiesel today; some familiar examples include: soybean, canola, cottonseed, sunflower, and peanut. It is also possible to convert recycled cooking grease into biodiesel. Raw vegetable oil has, in the past, been used, but it generally caused problems. Oils used to make biodiesel first undergo a series of chemical reactions before it can be used; the most common process is called “transesterification.” In this process the oil is first purified, then reacted with some sort of alcohol in the presence of potassium or sodium hydroxide. The esters that remain are what we use as biodiesel. The United States produces approximately 75,000,000 gallons of biodiesel a year; the largest market is fleet vehicles, federal and private.
One benefit of biodiesel is that it lubricates the engine, which potentially increases the engine’s life. However, as we saw in the previous article, biodiesel is not without cons. During the manufacturing process, nitrogen oxide emissions are increased by up to 10%. Another rather significant problem is that, because of it acts as a solvent, biodiesel loosens deposits which could clog the fuel filters in older diesel vehicles. Again, the solvent action tends to wear down the rubber and rubber-like components. Also, there is about a 10% decrease in fuel efficiency with biodiesel.
After all the hype for biofuels in the recent years it’s almost refreshing to read some controversy on this issue. We all knew that it couldn’t be as good as the government said it was. So, what’s the “new” problem? Well, apparently scientists have discovered that you can’t create biofuels, use it, and then eat it. They also seem to have found that biofuels may actually emit more greenhouse gas than the stuff most of us are using now! Oh, and did you know that the fertilizer biofuel crops require also have a relatively large “carbon footprint?” The original biofuel activists must not have heard that the manufacturing process also has big emission problems itself.
Okay, so let me get this straight… we’re going to clear good forest land that soaks up carbon dioxide in order to grow soybeans for fuel. Right. Let’s just take away natural wildlife habitats, and grow food crops for fuel. I’m guessing biofuel proponents never heard about the starving kids in China and Africa. Oh, well, just a few things to think on for now.