BioFuels, FlexFuel vehicles, part of transition plan
I have been impressed with the ideas about Flex Fuel vehicles by Robert Zubrin in his book/talks "Energy Victory" it's a start and a way to transition away from Foreign Oil and all the money that leaves our country due to oil addiction.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAUmFjHxI1c
or the talk at google:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLRuGUPkyh4
Authors@Google: Dr. Robert Zubrin
Key to his plan: Have mandate that ALL new vehicles sold in the US be flex fuel capable. So many benefits flow from that as he explains so well in his talks.
Flex fuel vehicles add $100 to cost, but prime a market for bio fuels like methanol, ethanol, etc. from biomass and growing energy. It also opens the market for the rest of the world to get into the energy game... where poor countries can grow biomass.
Craig Ventor and others are working on engineering bacteria to better produce alcohol fuels. It will cause a drop in gas prices to a floor of the cost of producing the alcohol fuels, not the OPEC/speculator manipulated prices. True renewables including wind/solar/hydro/geothermal etc are our long term future, but in the mean-time, bio fuels have much to offer!
It's brilliant.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAUmFjHxI1c
or the talk at google:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLRuGUPkyh4
Authors@Google: Dr. Robert Zubrin
Key to his plan: Have mandate that ALL new vehicles sold in the US be flex fuel capable. So many benefits flow from that as he explains so well in his talks.
Flex fuel vehicles add $100 to cost, but prime a market for bio fuels like methanol, ethanol, etc. from biomass and growing energy. It also opens the market for the rest of the world to get into the energy game... where poor countries can grow biomass.
Craig Ventor and others are working on engineering bacteria to better produce alcohol fuels. It will cause a drop in gas prices to a floor of the cost of producing the alcohol fuels, not the OPEC/speculator manipulated prices. True renewables including wind/solar/hydro/geothermal etc are our long term future, but in the mean-time, bio fuels have much to offer!
It's brilliant.
Tags: biofuels, energy, ethanol, flexfuels, methanol, talks, victory, youtube, zubrin
Views: 0
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by G G Gardner on -
I agree and I would like to know what Mr Pickens folks thinks about Mr Zubrin's plan as part of the solution. It seems to me that part of the problem is that vehicles are usally dependent on one fuel diesel, gas, E85 or LNG etc. Thus each procucer has an interest in seeing that as many vehicles as possible are dependent upon a specific product because at any specific point in time the market is a zero sum game and over time alternatives have too high a barrier to entry to overcome. Mr Zubrins, idea is to do what work in Brazil and mandate vehicles that can use at least two readily available fuels gas and alchohol and create a competitive market for transporation fuel so that the market/ consumer decides which suits it use best. Thus reducing the barrier to entry for alchol but not mandating that alchol must be a solution. Does this solution complement the development of LNG as vehicle fuel or does it compete with it? What effect would it have on the development of electric vehicles?
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Permalink Reply by SJC on -
Making all vehicles sold after 2012 FFV would be a beginning to making E85 from cellulose available nationwide. That would reduce oil imports significantly without major changes.
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Permalink Reply by Debra Goldenberg on -
That would be a very good policy. It will take a strong mandate from the federal government to require that automakers build these cars. Automakers in the US don't seem to believe Americans want more efficient cars, and it is yet to be seen how well they respond to current demands by consumers for cars with better gas mileage.
Government mandates have worked in Brazil. Flex-fuel vehicles are key in making their ethanol industry successful, even as prices for sugar and oil fluctuate. GM is one of the companies producing mandated flex-fuel vehicles there.
http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2006/05energy_sandalow.aspx
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Permalink Reply by SJC on
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It only costs $200-$300 per car to make it an FFV. Ford and GM already make many FFV models and know how to do it. We could them go to E10, E20 and so on using cellulose bio fuels. E20 eliminates 10% of our imported oil from countries like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
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Permalink Reply by Colt Lewis on -
I completely agree with this guy. Hell I just got done writing a blog saying the same thing. Now I have to go back and post this video.
The only downside to FlexFuel is that the emissions and efficiency can't be optimized. This means that even though methanol produces less partial burned hydrocarbons and less carbon monoxide it still produces more NOx.
Catalytic exhaust could be used to reduce certain things, but it is tough to optimize for all scenarios.
I agree making more flex fuel vehicles could help to establish the infrastructure for alternative fuels. This should be done ASAMFP
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Permalink Reply by Colt Lewis on
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I completely agree with this guy. Hell I just got done writing a blog saying the same thing. Now I have to go back and post this video.
The only downside to FlexFuel is that the emissions and efficiency can't be optimized. This means that even though methanol produces less partial burned hydrocarbons and less carbon monoxide it still produces more NOx.
Catalytic exhaust could be used to reduce certain things, but it is tough to optimize for all scenarios.
I agree making more flex fuel vehicles could help to establish the infrastructure for alternative fuels. This should be done ASAMFP
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