Our Energy Mess

Quote from PocketChange:

Sure, you can use, NG, coal, sequestered CO2 or biomass to produce methanol. I'm just saying Methanol should be our primary energy carrier and storage medium.

Methanol can be used in DMFC's and H2 PEM fuel cells or synthesized to gasoline and jet fuel to supply existing demand & machinery. Methanol can be processed directly into plastics.

Existing engines require only approx $100 in modifications (fuel sensor, gaskets & o-rings) to burn M85 methanol blends in ICE engines. In June 2009 Methanol was only $0.60 a gallon.. presently it has doubled to $1.20 largely due to Chinese demand.

Traditionally Methanol Blended fuel: M85 has had a retail price < $1 per gallon.
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M85 prices out above $3/gal.

Current price of methanol is $1.28/gal. It takes about 1.8 gals of M85 to equal a gallon of gasoline due to the lower energy content of methanol.

Add $0.7 in taxes, 0.05 transport and 0.1 profit and you get $3.20/gal.

Seneca
 
Quote from PocketChange:

Suspicion since China imposed anti-dumping duties on methanol imports in 2010.
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That should be suppressing their demand for imported methanol. Unless they are also blocking its export, reducing worldwide supply... are they?
 
Quote from Yannis:

If methanol is what we need, why not put a bunch of cows in a barn and feed them beans? :)
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Hate to break it to you but that is methane. not methanol.

Good thinking though.
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

How about natural gas? We have a lot of it. If you just ocnverted long haul trucks and municipal buses, it would make a dent.
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Makes too much sense, and we can't have that ruining a good campaign issue.
However, when I try, and it's really difficult, to take off my all politicans are just a bunch of self serving bastards hat, I ask myself what would happen if we really came up with an energy source, whatever it was, that truely put a serious dent in oil consumption? What happens in that ME region if we, and the rest of the world could say, drink your oil and eat your sand, we don't need you anymore? My thought is the place becomes more violent than ever. Then what? Could it be, however crazy and mis-guided that it seems, that we stay on the oil tit in an effort to keep a lid on that ME powder keg? If not, and we truly are being lead by a bunch of self serving jerks who simply want a perpetual campaign issue, we should behead all 535 members of congress/senate.
 
There are two recent game changers:

#1: Patent issued to US Navy for recovery of CO2 from seawater. This patent provides the feedstock for synthetically making methanol, gasoline, plastics and jet fuel from a virtually limitless source of CO2.

#2: Andrea Rossi's ECAT Energy Catalyzer http://www.defkalion-energy.com/ A type of Low Energy Nuclear Reactor: Patent

Between the two technologies fuels, plastics and electricity will be generated on a carbon neutral basis and delivered using existing infrastructure and technologies.
 

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