I would disagree unless you're talking E85 made from corn.

 

yes E85...30% less fuel efficient than the same car running on regular octane fuel. Is there another BIO fuel that has some potential for world consumption? I understand the arguement of BIO diesel; however, it doesnt seem to have the exposure over here in NA - we dont have the diesel vehicle engines here to support it except for the transport industry (and its even more expensive that regular gas).

 

Bio-diesel was used as far back as WWII and think about all the tractor trailer tucks that run on diesel. Also, Brazil has done very well with ethanol based fuels made from sugar cane. One of the big problems in the US is that the corn lobby has won in using their product for ethanol fuel. Corn lacks the energy that other biomass may have (sugar cane). There are also other chemical methods for making bio fuel that shows promise. BioFuels will be a niche product for a while but bio-diesel has great promise.

 

bio-diesel I like the sound of that

 

Just ran into this... http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspg...-23?newsid=3016

Save your liver, you might need those proteins in the future.

 

 

Don't confuse clean burning (i.e. complete combustion, little/no production of NOx, little/no emission of particulates) with "just producing water".

No matter what you do, with an engine burning hydrocarbons (bio or fossil; petrol/gas, diesel or ethanol) you are emitting CO2 by default. It's not poisonous, but you can't breathe it either. And it's more powerful as a greenhouse gas than water vapour

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@700700

 

in the case of BIO diesel, while it sounds promising there are millions of cars on the road that will prevent it from entering the market in any major way in the US....diesel has been around and accessable at most gas stations for years and the technology pretty much cuts fuel consumption in half (I used to have a diesel Jetta/Bora - 600miles/tank!). Nonetheless, car manufacturers continue to refrain from bringing a car into the US that will satisfy California emissions (one of the largest markets in the US). And, any car version they do bring in (VW Jetta, MB 320D etc) is about 30% more cost than it benzine counterpart...narrows the market penetration.

Ethenol even with sugar cane cant burn with the same energy output as gas. In that, it will show a degredation in fuel economy from its comparison to regular fuel. Power also suffers as a result so the driver will typically push the gas pedal a lot harder to get performance and response. So, my bottom line point here is that these technologies show a lot more lateral movement in addressing the problem than a significant development.

JMO....

 

Anything to make us the US less dependent on foreign oil the better. The fact that Brazil does not import any oil from foreign countries is something the US should strive for. At this stage in the game we don't know the full potential of Hydrogen or Hydrogen/electric hybrids. In the beginning of the 20th century when the first cars were being introduced few imagined where the technology would take us.