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225 comments on DrumBeat: April 8, 2008

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olepossom on April 8, 2008 - 9:59am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Perhaps I am being simplistic, but doesn't it make more sense in the short term to adapt our engines to the biofuels, rather than the other way around? It seems that we are seeking to force square pegs into round holes.

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toilforoil on April 8, 2008 - 10:10am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Yeah, I would agree. Adoption of electrified rail is the round peg for the round hole. Some of that electricity may come from large bio-mass fed generators. Still, I expect most of the bio-fuel will feed household furnaces, and in the case of more socially and intellectually advanced regions, small co-generation plants providing district or industrial heating and electricity.

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Darwinian on April 8, 2008 - 11:27am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

OlePossom, that may be a long term strategy but it could not possibly be a short term strategy as you suggest. It takes about 15 years to completely replace our automobile fleet. So unless you expect all automobile companies to completely change their fleet next year, and everyone to buy a new car next year,... Well, you get the picture.

On the other hand if we had a biofuel that everyone could run their car on today, all they would have to do is pull up to the pump and fill her up.

Ron Patterson

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Durandal on April 8, 2008 - 1:09pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Most fuel injection cars can be retrofitted for not too much money to burn E85. I seem to recall figures like $150/car. Essentially a few fuel lines may need to be replaced and the computer's fuel tables must be altered to allow the burning of E85, along with a sensor to allow the computer to determine how much of an ethanol blend is in the fuel.

I'm personally more interested in retrofits with motorcycle engines or electric motors, but those are MUCH more expensive. :)

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fleam on April 8, 2008 - 5:33pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Doesn't E85 rot seals and fuel lines and such?

I guess one nice thing about being out here in the Red State Asteroid Belt is, no E85. And when/if I return to the Bay Area, it's bicycle for me and that can run on pure ethanol. Especially in cold weather. This type of bicycle fuel is also very contamination-tolerant, such as the worm in good tequila, or whatever it is they put in Jager.

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andrew on April 9, 2008 - 1:17am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

15 years to turn over the fleet is still more than 6% per year- more than all but the most pessimistic estimates of the decline rate of oil (elm has upwards of 20% in the last few years though)

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225 comments on DrumBeat: April 8, 2008

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