Re: Kids Build Soybean-Fueled Car

On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 15:33:32 -0500, "SteveF" <none@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:
<snip>
Or because they recognize that the American public is all for doing
something about the environment until they realize it is either going to
cost them money or be an inconvenience. My neighbor runs a local heating
oil company and we have had a number of discussions about biodiesel. He
told me that there is a large scale production plant opening in eastern
North Carolina but that even with the government subsidies, the biodiesel is
quite a bit more expensive than regular heating oil. Tell someone that the
fuel they are using might cause their vehicle to be very hard to start if
the cold weather shows up before the "winter" blend arrives and they will
tell you were you can stick your renewable fuel.
<snip>
======================
Don't assume that the choice is between cheap fuel and expensive
fuel when the choice is between expensive fuel and no fuel.

Don't assume that bio-diesel and/or SVO *MUST* be used by the
consumer in their light duty vehicles. Again this can (and
should by the Praeto principal) be targeted (at least to start)
for the high volume users such as locomotives and inter-state
truckers (which from a strategic perspective are more important
anyhow), possibly with distribution limited to the milder climate
areas.

Consider the process and results of setting priorities and making
decisions in your life: You can't wait for perfect and complete
information because you would never make a decisions and one will
be made for you; There are always some drawbacks and downsides
because a "solution" that meets every requirement and desire is
not possible.

It is a gross waste to use #2, bio-diesel, or SVO as a direct
replacement in home heating. What needs to be considered is
co-generation in which a small diesel engine powers a generator
with the "waste" heat generated used for heat, and the power
either consumed on site or sold back to the electric company.
Many states now require the electric companies to accept back
into the grid consumer generated power. The benefit of this is
that the colder the weather, the more the diesels are run and the
more power is generated and fed back into the grid when it is
needed.

"Doing nothing", and/or "more of the same only better" never were
options and we are rapidly running out of money to keep buying
foreign oil for energy and feed stocks. Every barrel of oil
*NOT* imported reduces the foreign trade deficit by 65$. Failure
to grasp this simple fact shows how out of touch with reality our
government and policy makers have become.






Unka George
(George McDuffee)

What a country calls its vital economic interests are not
the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things
which enable it to make war. Petrol is more likely than wheat
to be a cause of international conflict.
Simone Weil (1909-43), French philosopher, mystic.
«The Power of Words», in Nouveaux Cahiers (1 and 15 April 1937;
repr. in Selected Essays, ed. by Richard Rees, 1962)
.

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