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The Methanol Alternative

admin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:10:25 +0000

In a clear and concise review and essay, Robert Zubrin lays out the case for Methanol becoming the energy carrier for the 21st century and beyond.

Zubrin, an aerospace engineer and president of Pioneer Astronautics, comments on the book, Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy written by Nobel laureate chemist, George Olah. His commentary takes a very technical tome and provides a concise summary of the case in language that the average reader can understand.

Read the entire essay, The Methanol Alternative, at New Atlantis.

US Petroleum Delivery Down 4% in October

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:30:01 +0000

Total domestic petroleum deliveries fell more than 4% in October compared with a year ago, contributing to a substantial year-to-date decline of more than 5% to 19.6 million barrels per day, according to the latest monthly statistical report from the American Petroleum Institute.

More…

Obama and the Green New Deal

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:40:25 +0000

With the 2008 Presidential election now only a week away, speculation will soon be over on where our country will be heading under the leadership of a new president. Whoever is elected will have a costly Middle East War and a failed domestic economy to deal with. I don’t envy their position.

After reading both the Obama energy plan and the McCain energy plan, Obama has put the most effort and thought into crafting and documenting how he intends to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil and catalyze the shift to the new Clean Energy Economy.

With a drastic increase in unemployment looming, the next president should consider taking a page from the play book of FDR and institute a New Deal for America’s energy infrastructure. This “Green New Deal” would mobilize the country’s workers by funding the largest new industry created in the 21st century. By funding public works projects, the new President would create valuable new jobs, boost our economy and wean us from dependence on petroleum. These public works projects could include:

building a new high voltage DC power distribution network
retrofitting power plants with co-generation capability that uses biomass, solar, geothermal and wind where applicable
developing sustainable biofuels that don’t adversely affect food prices and supply
developing alternative fuels such as natural gas and methanol while reducing the amount of energy required to manufacture, refine and deliver them for consumption.
fostering research in CO2 reduction and sequestration techniques including reformation of CO2 and H20 into methanol for fuel and as an energy storage mechanism.
funding additional research of reforming atmospheric CO2 into methanol using selective absorption and other techniques.
incenting research in alternative methods of transportation such as electric vehicles and more advanced hybrid technologies.
upgrading our homes and buildings with energy efficiency improvements such as improved insulation, CF and LED lighting upgrades, more efficient windows and improved sealing of the building envelope.
adding government-mandated requirements on efficient new building designs
help funding energy generation retrofits to homes and businesses using solar PV, solar hot water, geothermal and wind where applicable.

David Morris’ article on AlterNet makes a case for why our nation is ready for a Green New Deal.

- RADscientist

Are the Polar Ice Caps Melting Now? Oops, maybe they were right!

admin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:37:51 +0000

I am often a skeptic of theories until I can read enough information to support a logical conclusion that the theory is true or false. Climate change was one of those theories that I wondered if it was really true. I watched a Youtube video of a young scientist who used standard logic to determine that the best option was to assume that climate change was real and to do something about it. Here’s the video to watch and help you make up your own mind on climate change:

Now that you’ve watched the video, I wonder what your conclusion is now? If you are still on the fence about climate change and global warming, then maybe this week’s news article on the polar ice caps will help you make your decision.

Polar Ice Caps Melting by September

It appears that the ice at the North Pole has decided to melt and should be completely melted by this September. I guess you can look on the bright side; now you can take a cruise to the North Pole and experience what many an explorer froze to death trying to accomplish!

It’s also a well-known fact that there is oil under the Arctic Ocean. I guess it will also be easier to drill for it now…

- Veggie Ranger

HHO or Brown’s Gas Injection – Truth or Urban Legend?

admin — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:04:41 +0000

I had a neighbor call me a while ago and ask me about HHO or Brown’s gas injection to save fuel. I’m known as the neighborhood’s energy “mad scientist” so he figured he would ask me before buying e-books and kits to convert his F-150 company vehicle.

I surfed the internet and was amazed at all of the sites discussing HHO as the miracle mileage saver both for gas and diesel vehicles. However, most of the sites gave little bits of information and offered the rest as a e-book download for a fee. It reminded me a lot of the first time I heard you can run a diesel engine on waste vegetable oil so I began searching for blogs and forum postings on people’s experiences with using HHO injection to get better fuel mileage. To my dismay, I found nothing credible; just people debunking it as a scam but not from their own experience in trying it. Others swear by it but couldn’t provide more than a few sentences on how much fuel they saved or a short Youtube video showing the device under the hood bubbling and boiling its contents with the engine running.

After further research, I did find some comments that appeared to come from an engineer that was involved in a research project at Caltech’s JPL analyzing HHO as a fuel enhancer.

In order to contribute more information and research on the actual results of researching, installing and testing an HHO or Brown’s gas injection system, I have purchased what appears to be the most complete and well-thought-out e-book on how to build and install an HHO injection system.

Over the next few months, I will be chronicling my experiences with testing HHO injection on gas and diesel vehicles. Stay tuned…

- Veggie Ranger

Sources:

Green Car Congress Article

Is Pressing SVO from Seeds Viable?

admin — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:34:39 +0000

I’ve heard of people trying to grow their own crops, press their own oil and make their own fuel at a level where they can sustain their own fuel needs. However, in most cases, the people I have communicated with have attempted this on too small a scale to be viable.

This morning, I read about a farmer in NW Kansas that bought a Chinese-made screw press to experiment with making his own diesel fuel from sunflower seeds. Daniel McAmoil began his experiment in April of 2006 and began first by purchasing sunflower seeds on the open market until he was able to harvest his own crop for processing. McAmoil’s experiment was successful! To date, he has produced and used over 8,500 gallons of sunflower oil!

I have always been skeptical about growing my own fuel but McAmoil has shown that for landowners with more than a couple of acres of land, growing and pressing your own fuel from sunflowers is viable. It is so viable that McAmoil upgraded to a larger 10-ton screwpress in August of 2006.

If you would like more information about McAmoil’s research and process of making fuel, you can visit his website by clicking here.

- Veggie Ranger