Alternative Fuels

[thejuice]

With fuel costs going mental,(and climate change, but price is what people really seem to care about) I was just wondering if there is any viable alternative to the usual petrol or diesel vehicles. Saw an interesting piece on Bio-diesel. I know that it is mixed in at 5% and 30% with regular diesel. Some cars can run on 100% Bio-Diese. Does anyone here use Bio-Diesel. What cars can run on it? can old diesel cars be retro fitted to suit 100% Bio.

Heres another interesting thing i came across. Perhaps a worthwhile investment for those in food crop production and agriculture.

"Biodiesel production also plays a useful role in agriculture. Under the current Common Agricultural Policy, the arable raw materials needed for biodiesel production may be grown on set-aside land which would otherwise be taken out of production."

At the recent Los Angeles Motor Show, new car models that ran on electric, hydrogen cells, bio-diesel actually out-numbered those that ran on fossil fuels. Those of note included:

The VW Space Up!
Chevrolet Volt: has a hybrid engine that runs on electricity for the first 45 miles, has solar pannels integrated on its roof.
Tesla Roadster: fully electric sports car. 0-60 four seconds, 125 top speed, modelled on Lotus Ellise, costs 2 cent a mile to run, according to their website ( http://www.teslamotors.com/ ) will do the equivelent of   135 miles to the gallon   ...........................oh and it costs £50,000

[AZOffaly]

There was a bus outside work last week, ran on Vegetable oil or some derivative. Jaysus the smell was rank. It was like an industrial size chipper van.

[ziggysego]

Top Gear did a test last year on alternative fuels... well one kind in particular. Poo.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=WAm2TW0Sba4

[Puckoon]

One of the guys I work with runs a diesel VW Jetta off biofuel. I think, although I cant be certain, that he runs it at 100%.

[fearglasmor]

According to some commentators the price of wheat is rising because in the US farmers are turning huge acreage over to bio fuel production and away from grain. Don't know how true it is,  but would it be ironic if while your saving the planet by driving your saab hybrid fuel engine, some poor hoor can longer afford his loaf of bread as a result.

[thejuice]

There was a bus outside work last week, ran on Vegetable oil or some derivative. Jaysus the smell was rank. It was like an industrial size chipper van.

Yes there is supposed to be bit of a smell of it. Ive never been around one, does it smell whilst next to the exhaust like any other vehicle or no-matter where you are.

One of the guys I work with runs a diesel VW Jetta off biofuel. I think, although I cant be certain, that he runs it at 100%.

Do you know if he re-fit the engine for it or what? Whats the price of a litre of Bio anyway?


PS If you havent already, check out the tesla roadster, it looks pure class

[Candyman]

89.3p???

[Doogie Browser]

A friend who recently built a new house has installed a Wood pellet system for their heating (which is underfloor), it is some operation, basically a large burner is in his garage and Balcas (from Fermanagh) provide him with the pellets delivered in much the same way as you would get an oil delivery, it's quite new to me, maybe others have more experience of it, but it looks a great system.  He also got 50% back from the Gov't for the costs of the system as he was using Energy Efficient fuel.  So the initial outlay is not as bad as you would think, it was circa £3,500.00 to install I think (after the rebate).

[Puckoon]

Juice, Im going back to a year old conversation in the pub, so dont take it as gospel.

From what I can recall, the gist of the conversation was that there was little to no mechanical modification needed (he was trying to convince me to do the same).

[thejuice]

A friend who recently built a new house has installed a Wood pellet system for their heating (which is underfloor), it is some operation, basically a large burner is in his garage and Balcas (from Fermanagh) provide him with the pellets delivered in much the same way as you would get an oil delivery, it's quite new to me, maybe others have more experience of it, but it looks a great system.  He also got 50% back from the Gov't for the costs of the system as he was using Energy Efficient fuel.  So the initial outlay is not as bad as you would think, it was circa £3,500.00 to install I think (after the rebate).

Ive seen them at trade-shows, looks good alright. How much is a load do you know? does it last long?

[AZOffaly]

Yes there is supposed to be bit of a smell of it. Ive never been around one, does it smell whilst next to the exhaust like any other vehicle or no-matter where you are.

Well, the bus was parked, engine running, about 10 yards from us, and we were at the head of the bus. And we got the smell there. Then the bus moved on a bit, putting us closer to the exhaust, and it was worse.

[blast05]

According to some commentators the price of wheat is rising because in the US farmers are turning huge acreage over to bio fuel production and away from grain. Don't know how true it is,  but would it be ironic if while your saving the planet by driving your saab hybrid fuel engine, some poor hoor can longer afford his loaf of bread as a result.

This is fact. The nett effect of all of this is not so much that 'some poor hoor' can no longer afford a loaf of bread, rather that the developed world and the US in particular will no longer have grain mountains of excess production every year. This is good i hear you say  ....... unfortunately not as it is these grain mountains that are the food aid for millions and millions throughout Africa and elsewhere. Bio fuels are not a long term large scale viable alternative as it would require more agricultural land than currently exists on the planet to power all the cars on the planet ! There are currently no real alternatives  ...... hydrogen is sometimes being hailed as another but it would require more energy to transport liquid hydrogen at the required temperature than what you would actually safe. Or at least these are little nuggets according to a good book i read recently:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heat-How-Stop-Planet-Burning/dp/0141026626/ref=pd_bbs_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195500327&sr=8-15

[dodo]

A lad I know is producing bio-fuel from chipper oil. It's been a while since I've been talking to him but he was saying that it works better on certain diesel vehicles than others. He cannot produce enough of the stuff at the moment as demand is great as you can imagine with the increasing cost of regular diesel and petrol. The greatest problem he has is getting a license to produce the bio-fuel. The government is very reluctant to give out licenses presumably because of the loss in revenue that would ensue.

[blast05]

The government is very reluctant to give out licenses presumably because of the loss in revenue that would ensue

Possibly, but they have already cut VRT by 50% on cars that can run on bio-fuel - there is a Saab, a Honda and (recently) the Volvo S40 that currently can do so. I know re the Volvo that last year a LE model would have cost 31.5K book price. This year it is 28K. Of course the cars can also run on petrol so even if you never put bioethanol in it then you still get it for 3.5K less ...........   actually sounds too generous for the Irish government, must be an EU directive