It's Sexy... It's Cool... it's...

It's Sexy... It's Cool... it's impractical for our world right now! So what am I talking about; Hydrogen as an alternative energy fuel. It will require re-configuring and rethinking our cars, (not a bad idea) re-doing our fuel distribution system(very costly) and coming up with a method to make the stuff. Wow three strikes against it from the start. I don't know if the US or any country can come up with enough money to accomplish such a project on such a grand scale. This is why I think ethanol, butanol and bio-diesel have a much better chance at weaning us off expensive imports fuel oil. But, ethanol may not be a very big winner just because it cannot be distributed through our current system and because it absorbs water readily from the air, it may not be good for climates where there is high humidity (east coast). It also requires modification to our current gasoline engines before they will run and it doesn't pack as many BTU's/gallon as gasoline resulting in more fuel stops. Butanol on the other hand does not require any changes to our cars or distribution system. The process for producing it from plant sugars is well known. So this one sounds like the most acceptable candidate for replacing gasoline. Look here for more info: http://www.butanol.com/ Now for the Diesel fuel. Well there is a wealth of evidence that bio-diesel can run every bit as good in a diesel engine as petroleum based diesel plus it is environmentally friendly where regular diesel is not. It is also possible to produce it from Algae providing an alternative to the argument that good arable land will be used on any bio based fuel alternative.

Look here for more info: http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

For a good, in-dept explanation of what bio-diesel is chemically try this link: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=1006021014175&r=w&is_vote_given=true&pa=BpVqD13uBHMzU.qS4x0HTZsioUFrX6n4Q.3q0fu.Ol4lE7n.P4ay30..Rm3kEJrV_8TRfy1Vz77340dNirI-

Wow I almost missed this one...

I didn't even think about this one, But Butanol can be produced from fermentation similar to Ethanol. It is closer to gasoline in BTU content and can be distributed through existing pipe lines and the process has been around for about 100 years. Take a look at the post to find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanol

Is ethanol fuel un-patriotic?

Wow I can't believe it. Is ethanol production un-patriotic? I have recently been to a blog that says "The TRUTH about Ethanol: good for drunks, not cars." I don't get it. I can think of a number of reasons this is a great alternative to gasoline. Personally the best reason I can think of is that we can change the balance of the trade deficit and give the future back to our kids. The US is rapidly loosing buying power and the bulk of our taxes are going to go to paying our debt and mostly to pay off our debt.

The other good reason is that the real cost of oil is much more than it is right now. When you factor in the cost of two wars in the middle east and the fact that a gallon of gas actually costs more in energy to produce than we get from it when it burns. Also a gallon of gasoline takes 1.23 times more energy to make that it produces. So how does Ethanol weigh in? It costs about .74 times the amount of energy it produces. So ethanol still beats gasoline on the energy front.

Hey I just wanted to post something new today. I have heard that many new ethanol plants are being planned right now. A friend of mine says that he knows of a company that has a backlog of 50 plants on order and that each plant cost ~ 100 million to build. Some analysts say the number is about 190 ethanol plants are on order. This is great new, because this means something is happening right now and that the supply of fuel grade ethanol should go up and be widely available in just a few short years.

One thing that is distressing about this is that the Bush administration and some coal producing states are pushing for these plants to use coal in the distillation process and not the biomass or natural gas. What a shame. Here we have a very clean and green process that we want to pervert into a dirty one. Doesn't make sense to me.

"While only four of roughly 100 ethanol plants currently operating in the U.S. are powered by coal (practically all of the rest are fueled by natural gas), some 190 more are under construction or soon to be built. One energy analyst, Robert McIlvaine, president of the Illinois-based research group McIlvaine Company, predicts that "100 percent" of new ethanol plants built in the U.S. over the next few years will be coal-fired, "largely because of the exorbitant cost of natural gas right now, and the comparatively predictable future supply of homegrown coal." A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor also points out that many ethanol manufacturers are increasingly being drawn toward coal."

Click here to check this out.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_559.cfm

Hey what about using ethanol as a fuel

Should we continue on in our current path as an oil guzzling nation? Personally I think we Americans have a number of options; we just don’t have the will to change anything in this area until now. I have been very excited to hear of renewed interest using ethanol as a fuel supplement or as a total fuel alternative. This excites me for a couple of reasons. The first is because we could get off the Arab oil dependency that we are locked into right now. The other great reason is that this would be a home industry that could be grown into a great renewable resource for our nation. This can help the farmers of our country; it would also create a whole new industry which can help create new jobs. It will also help us as a nation to balance the trade deficit which is way out of control. I don’t know but it seems to me this is a winning opportunity on all fronts except one. The oil companies must be at the least very concerned. They have the relationship with the Arab oil cartel that must be appeased and maintained. If they don’t jump on the ethanol band wagon they will be replaced. So they better enjoy the big profits they are extracting from the peasant population or join the concerned masses. There are some very good articles being written right now on this topic and by some very heavy hitters(Vinod Khosla a founder of Sun Microsystems) that add credibility to the concept. If you want to read more about this try these interesting links:



EPA Take on Ethanol Fuel
a video presentation on Ethanol by Vinod Khosla.
Another Ethanol website