Now this rocks!

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

and the availability of biodiesel is getting better every year.

True, they even just built a new biodiesel plant in Erie, Pa close to where I work; but, I am assuming that if you run this stuff in a newer vehicle you probably would void your warranty as well as possibly cause problems?

I see this biodiesel alternative as being a good choice for an older car; as I've seen Joe Black mention before; but I'm not so sure about its use in a newer vehicle?

[Ldub]

True, they even just built a new biodiesel plant in Erie, Pa close to where I work; but, I am assuming that if you run this stuff in a newer vehicle you probably would void your warranty as well as possibly cause problems?

I see this biodiesel alternative as being a good choice for an older car; as I've seen Joe Black mention before; but I'm not so sure about its use in a newer vehicle?

I may be WOB here, but I just read somewhere that biodiesel puts more gunk (an industry term) into the atmosphere than dino...any opinions on that?

[johnnyapollo]

Biodiesel is actually "cleaner" burning than most of the diesel you see rated for street use. The problem comes in the manufacturing cycles - if you're doing it at home with free, spent waste oil there isn't much environmental impact. If you're growing crops to create the oils that are turned into Biodiesel, then there's quite a bit of impact and that won't go away until efficiencies are built into the system. There's been a bit about this online but it's hard to separate the truth from the smear. If we could focus on it for a bit as an industrial nation, I'm sure an efficient, relatively "green" production method could be devised but also I'm not sure if we'll ever get to that point.

-- John

[Joe_Black]

As John mentions there's quite a bit to look at for the various impacts for growing additional crops for biofuels, but basically it boils down to developing effective new stnadards for this emerging industry. Diesel in general has different emissions than gasoline, with its main nasty emission being mono-nitrogen oxides which contribute to acid rain. Diesel emissions are commonly about twice that of gasoline, but most people fail to realize that diesel delivers three times the energy of an equivalent volume of gasoline meaning it actually nets less. Again, government at work.

Another misunderstanding about biodiesel among most is its confusion with vegetable oil, either in straight (SVO) or waste (WVO) source-stocks. Biodiesel is a fuel processed from vegetable oil and is 100% compatible with all diesel engines, whereas vegetable oil works best in older vehicles (generally pre-1987) using mechanical indirect injection. It can be run in newer engines but requires a two-tank system where you start and shut down the engine on diesel, running the rest of the time on vegetable oil. An interesting thing happens when you run a diesel on vegetable oil, the distinctive "clatter" goes away. Then again, Rudolph Diesel designed it to run on vegetable oil to begin with.

Ironically the biggest hindrance to the alternative fuel industry is that there are simply so many alternatives. The general public finds it far easier to pony up $$$ at the pump rather than learn what's out there and sort through all the hype and hyperbole.

[Ldub]

Thanks for shedding more light on this, I no doubt read that somewhere on the net, but don't remember where.

[Chopper]

Just saw a thing on "Speed" this morning, about some outfit that has cracked the Ethanol code, and are making it from any organic material.....hay to old tires and doing it cheaply! They were promptly bought up by GM. Drive my Hydrogen car to work, and I still got something to run my "Rod" on. Screw an Arab!! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

[Joe_Black]

How about methane? Check this little tidbit of news out and then let your mind wander through the possibilities...

Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel
Thu Feb 28, 3:57 PM ET

A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said Thursday he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.

Geneticist Craig Venter disclosed his potentially world-changing "fourth-generation fuel" project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California.

"We have modest goals of replacing the whole petrochemical industry and becoming a major source of energy," Venter told an audience that included global warming fighter Al Gore and Google co-founder Larry Page.

"We think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock."

Simple organisms can be genetically re-engineered to produce vaccines or octane-based fuels as waste, according to Venter.

Biofuel alternatives to oil are third-generation. The next step is life forms that feed on CO2 and give off fuel such as methane gas as waste, according to Venter.

"We have 20 million genes which I call the design components of the future," Venter said. "We are limited here only by our imagination."

His team is using synthetic chromosomes to modify organisms that already exist, not making new life, he said. Organisms already exist that produce octane, but not in amounts needed to be a fuel supply.

"If they could produce things on the scale we need, this would be a methane planet," Venter said. "The scale is what is critical; which is why we need to genetically design them."

The genetics of octane-producing organisms can be tinkered with to increase the amount of CO2 they eat and octane they excrete, according to Venter.

The limiting part of the equation isn't designing an organism, it's the difficulty of extracting high concentrations of CO2 from the air to feed the organisms, the scientist said in answer to a question from Page.

Scientists put "suicide genes" into their living creations so that if they escape the lab, they can be triggered to kill themselves.

Venter said he is also working on organisms that make vaccines for the flu and other illnesses.

"We will see an exponential change in the pace of the sophistication of organisms and what they can do," Venter said.

"We are a ways away from designing people. Our goal is just to make sure they survive long enough to do that."