Ethanol's future is looking bleaker and bleaker...
http://gog2g.com/2006/09/23/deathanol.aspx
Anyone still in any of these companies?
http://gog2g.com/2006/09/23/deathanol.aspx
Anyone still in any of these companies?

Quote from HunterGatherer:
Good luck with your injectors if you use the junk... also you get far worse gas mileage... it takes more energy to produce than is released... it is profitable only with subsidies and high petro costs... everybody and their brother is getting into ethanol production...
The future is pig manure. Some scientist in Illinois discovered a way to turn pig manure into useable petroleum in two days with minimal equipment and cost.![]()
Quote from Hydroblunt:
Biodiesel can be used as a sole source only with special technology.
I have a friend who runs biodiesel in his pickup, no modifications whatsoever. He claims that he cannot tell the difference in performance either. He also claims that recent diesel engines (past few years) can all run on biodiesel with no mods. I personally did not check this though.
Quote from Jayford:
Quote from Hydroblunt:
I have a friend who runs biodiesel in his pickup, no modifications whatsoever. He claims that he cannot tell the difference in performance either. He also claims that recent diesel engines (past few years) can all run on biodiesel with no mods. I personally did not check this though.
He is correct, most NEW diesel engines can run biodiesel. The chemical formula is very close, ideally there should be no negative consequences. Truckers actually just add biodiesel and see instant savings. But they choose not to use all biodiesel for whatever technical reasons, probably cause they have the older engines. Think it may have to do with the fact that they cant get the power needed but the right amount of biodiesel helps out with the long highway rides.
It is cleaner but not by THAT much, smth between 20-50%. It is cheaper but laws of supply & demand would change that if you were try to use biodiesel as a primary source.
I know the vegetable oil vans, cool stuff but there are other complications. The idea of driving up to a Mcdonals and filling up on their grease is sound if you do not care about the impurity of grease oil.
Quote from HunterGatherer:
No. This isn't some penny stock scam. It is real. I read it in the newspaper about 2 months ago. In two days under pressure and a fixed heat, pig manure becomes petroleum. I believe the scientist is from U of Illinois (Urbana Champaign?).
The primary probs with pig farming are the waste and the smell. This solves the former at least. Hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons; it doesn't matter where it comes from.
Look for pig dooty gas in the next two years. By extension, there will be cow gas, septic tank, etc.
My take on the near future is energy coming from many different sources both traditional and untraditional. Nuclear is the future of electricity for most of the world. Thank Jimmy Carter for making nuclear energy prohibitive in this country. Now we have acid rain, energy scandals and brown outs.