Car Tech: What's your favorite alternative fuel?
- 4/24/07 5:45 PM
Get Real - It's About Money
by FredMars - 5/5/07 8:24 AM In reply to: Just think it through a bit further by mdtrotInstead of wasting fuel, perhaps we should DEMAND that automakers buck the system as produce vehicles that really do get fuel economy.
I have read the debate here regarding the 200mpg carb and other inventions. No they are not really hoaxes.
During the time I worked as a technician at a Ford plant (Ford North Penn Electronicx Facility) I had the rare opportunity to witness an amazing display of fuel efficiency.
A 351CID V8 was used with a 1 liter bottle of fuel. THis test began about 4:00PM as I was leaving for the day. When I went to do some work on some printers on the factory floor, I stopped by to see the test that was run the previous evening.
The short of it is that the engine only burned about 1/3 of 1 liter in about 12 hours. The test including simulating city and highway driving. The engineer at the console when I inquired, showed me a display that read 249.xx/MPG! He said that it was basically the same princple that made the 200mpg carburetor work. Of course with today's computer control the ignition and timing of a vehicle can be very exact and with a simple methos of vaporizing the fuel, it yields more combustion and has very little wasted. Of course when I asked when we could expect such mileage on a Ford F-150 he smiled and said, "Not in our lifetime."
Truth be told, we have technology that can reduce dependence on oil, but it is not being used. If hybrid vehicles used the same method as a diesel(electric) locomotive, with batteries to store energy, fuel could be stretched to that 200/mpg goal.
But the real breakthrough will be when we can get off of the burning of fuels to create useable power. But so long as greed drives the economy, we will not see and major change in energy producttion and use.
The government is always telling us to make sacrifices for the best interests of the country. Pay more, use less, do without, make your contribution. I say this is bull-pucky, and that it is gross protectionism for the oil and power industries that want to remain the control.
Best fuels are
by kingkingdingaling - 5/3/07 1:36 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
Biodiesel from hemp or other annual seeds bearing plants for cars.
Hydrogen for jets.
Electricity from the wind to power the world!!!
Jack Daniels
by MikeyD215 - 5/3/07 2:53 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
Yes, my favorite fuel is Wild Turkey 101, but if it is unavailable I can rev up on Jack Daniels, alternatively, almost as well.
Vodka
by VANEEW - 5/3/07 3:37 AM In reply to: Jack Daniels by MikeyD215In fact, the price will be coming down soon. Have a number of clients who have gotten grants from the goreble warming lemmings to build ethanol plants. They are farmers. They know that when the ethanal bubble breaks their plants will be worthless, so they are spending the extra bucks to make them suitable for booze production. Bring it on.
The next best fuel would be carbon credits. What a freaking scam!!!!
Since I don't drive (committed autophobe) ...
by herrwitt - 5/3/07 3:06 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
Since I don't drive (I'm a committed autophobe) I'll have to say anything with a high caffeine level ! If your a serious reader of scence fiction , you may have made a note of the steam Volkswagons mentioned in Ersula Leguin's Lathe of Heaven ... I foresee wider use of bicycles in the coming years too ...
fried food
by ffhyatt - 5/3/07 3:06 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
Some friends & I have been removing used deep-fry oil from a few restaurants in town for our diesel engines. After a two day process, we can put it right in our tanks.
If my work did not require a truck though I would be using public trans
ffhyatt
Human Power!
by lewis_ian - 5/3/07 3:11 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
Walk, run, swim, or cycle... Calories - that's my favourite alternative fuel. And for some of the coolest new ways to get around take a look at the velomobile concept (google it or search for it on www.YouTube.com)... Awesome!
AIR power !
by sauna6 - 5/3/07 3:36 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
http://www.theaircar.com/tests.html is a company with a vision for urban transportation.
We all need electrical energy anyway (produced preferably via nuclear, solar or geothermal energy), so why not just fill the air tank and go?
200 kilometers per tank today is not bad, and in a few years this can be much more. Beat that !
compressed air is extremely inefficient
by impala - 5/3/07 4:27 PM In reply to: AIR power ! by sauna6compressed air is extremely inefficient. batteries are better.
Air powere fudge factor
by albizzia - 5/7/07 10:16 PM In reply to: AIR power ! by sauna6Reading the "aircar" test results were interesting. They drove an actual 7.22 Km, then by applying numerous "Correction Factors" expanded that to an imaginary 242.10 Km!
How did they justify that huge fudge factor? Quote "As a trial vehicle, the characteristics of the car do not match the final specifications, but an analysis of the results of the trials confirmed the calculations carried out during the evaluation of the vehicle´s dimensions (deposit volume, mechanical systems etc)"
Compressing air produces some waste heat, and the higher the pressure, the more energy is wasted as heat. The air car plans to use 4,500 psi tanks, and is considerably less efficient than a battery electric car.
Bio Diesel
by dickbrmly - 5/3/07 3:44 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
Hydrogen is a rocket fuel and it doesn't take much for-thought to see the issues that can come up. The stuff converts to a gas rapidly so you'll be in one big explosion just after freezing to death.
Bio diesel makes a boat load of sense. Everything alive has oil in it, so why not use the futures oil deposits now? Specially sense it wouldn't add to the hydrocarbon issue.
Everything is energy. E-mc2....No energy, no mater.
The only real issue we have in the world is distributing an alternate fuel. Stuff burns... internal combustion engines need stuff that burns is all.
We need gas stations...That is all we need. If we really wanted to slow global warming all we would have to do is remove the tax on natural and petroleum gases used in transportation for a time. There...I just solved the problem. And yes, that would solve the problem.
The sad thing about it all.. Is the issue is so simple to overcome its hardly a topic. Engines need stuff that burns...Its the money issues that need to be overcome...Oil companies don't want people making Bio Diesel or alcohol at home. Oil is rare enough to keep the suppliers down is all.
Engines need Stuff that Burns?
by BigDaddy69_77 - 5/3/07 3:52 PM In reply to: Bio Diesel by dickbrmlySays who? Hydrogen is rocket fuel? Do you work for NASA? Cause I don't see Hydrogen in this description of "Rocket fuel" at all: The propellant mixture in each SRB motor consists of ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer, 69.6% by weight), aluminum (fuel, 16%), iron oxide (a catalyst, 0.4%), a polymer (such as PBAN or HTPB, a binder that holds the mixture together, also acting as secondary fuel, 12.04%), and an epoxy curing agent (1.96%). This propellant is commonly referred to as Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant, or simply APCP.
Sounds more to me like you work for an oil company with your "engines need stuff that burns." Compressed air doesn't burn. Electricity doesn't burn. Fuel cells don't burn. I just want to make sure that nobody buys into your lies and propaganda.
A little lost?
by dickbrmly - 5/3/07 5:02 PM In reply to: Engines need Stuff that Burns? by BigDaddy69_77You miss understood. My claim was that the oil companies are the problem. They need a fuel that has limited sources so they can make a buck.
As far as rocket fuels you have a messy one. Sure Hydrogen isn't used and the reasons why are of great interest. Expense being the chief reason.
(the Space Shuttle uses high-thrust, high-density SRBs for its lift-off with the liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen SSMEs used partly for lift-off but primarily for orbital insertion.)
So...The space shuttle uses H2.
I hope this helped.
hydrogen is rocket fuel
by impala - 5/3/07 6:14 PM In reply to: Engines need Stuff that Burns? by BigDaddy69_77Saturn V burned hydrogen in the 2nd and 3rd stage.
Space shuttle burns hydrogen.
Other rockets burn hydrogen.
PHEV
by richtan - 5/3/07 4:12 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
The battery scientists will free us from the yoke of foreign oppression. They are the new minutemen.
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