Gas Prices to Jump - Good News for Hybrid Sales

interesting article:

FACT CHECK: More US drilling didn't drop gas price - BusinessWeek

 

Yes right now there are 5-10 venture capital firms looking at converting wood (biomass) to fuels and lubes and there is not really a technical hurdle, the chemistry is well known. You can also make fuels and lubes from coal and gas.

There is life after oil, just way more expensive. The thing is, dino oil is basically ready made gaso and diesel just needs a little clean-up. All of these other options bio etc we are basically talking about manufacturing synthetic oil. They have to compete with ready-made dino oil, which is not so easy.

 

For we the retail users of CNG-as-fuel you're right that it's not really feasible with such a limited distribution system.

However CNG-as-fuel is perfect immediately for fleet users ( UPS, FedEx, USPS, container haulers at our ports and a myriad of heavy trucks and vans that make local deliveries in every city and town in the continent ). All of these vehicles normally return to their central garaging point every night for refueling.

That means that only a limited number of compression units have to be installed in these garages for the fleets. Nearly every town has NG or LPG service of some sort or another. This is the reason that Ram, GM and Ford will be offering NG/Gasoline hybrid trucks to the fleets buyers beginning next month.

It's a start. After there's enough demand I'm certain that intrepid entrepreneurs will start offering NG at the pumps simply because there's money to be made by doing it.

 

While it may be cheaper than petro-fuel by $.55 it's still more than twice as expensive as CNG-as-fuel. CNG runs $1.20-$1.50/equivalent gallon. We are swimming in NG now, it's literally flowing out of the ground faster than we can use it.

E85 is pretty expensive to produce and it takes up valuable land to grow the crops. Why go through all those machinations. Uncap the NG wells.

 

Look at Westport Innovations and their jv's with Cummins, Volvo, GM and a couple of chinese diesel truck builders. This is literally on the cusp of becoming reality.

I'm certain that every truck maker in the world is ready to move with this technology, Toyota included. It makes it realistic to imagine half ton diesel pickups as liquid-fuel efficient as a Prius.

 

Is the bio-diesel available at the pump straight bio-diesel or some blend of dino diesel and bio-diesel? I ask because my father runs bio-diesel in his Ram truck every chance he can get. He reports a significant fuel mileage increase running it as well as way less soot and no sulfur smell. Our family friend is a long haul big truck owner/driver and he reports the same about bio running cleaner and giving him significantly higher fuel mileage. Both motors are Cummins. My fathers is a bone stock 2006, I believe, and the big truck has a modified Cummins. I do not know the model of the big truck motor.

tnx,
Mike :tea:

 

I dont see whats the problem with CNG?

CNG is not expensive to have as a fuel. Gas station additions are cheap and so is car retrofit. Obviously problem is govt regulation and legislation.

We have so many LPG stations, including private ones, and converting to LPG from petrol is between $1.5k and $3k max. With the price of maintainance, which IS higher than normal engine, extra 10%-25% consumption, price is equal half of the price of gasoline, so it pays off pretty fast.

In Europe, problem is that many countries still depend on gas imports, and those that dont have many cars running on either CNG or LPG, depending on the country.

BRC (maker of conversion kits) estimates 15 million cars use LPG around the world.
LPG Around the World – BRC GB

 

do not know but I'll take a stab-
IIRC somewhere around B5 (5% bio) is typical blend that is considered compatible wih regular diesel. I do not know much about diesel MPG but bioD is like ethanol in that you are introducing less energy into the fuel by adding oxygenated molecules. One would think adding 5% is not enough to see big differences, but maybe there are other blend changes when bio is added such as additives and may need some lower cold flowing base diesel.
I don't know if anyone uses B100 at the pump it would be very tricky in cold climates. We now have ultra low sulfur diesel which would surprise if any actual sulfur smell.

Update- Looks like B20 20% bio is the most common USA blend. Must be what you are using. I am thinking this exceeds what would typically be guaranteed for new diesel cars in EU, but works and is good for general USA use. I see very little availability in my state, but lots in MN. It is considered good for engine lubricity so not much MPG loss.

 

Thank you for mentioning that. More efficient vehicles can reduce the need for imported oil by half or more. America needs to focus heavily on increasing efficiency. (minimum CAFE requirements is a start, but at the current level it is still not enough)

Some people laugh at this. Really? Why? Every year in our local parade, there are dozens of horse carriages that travel all the way across town, and some that sprint (20mph?) for show in certain stretches of the parade route.

If you had to drive to your local grocery store in your Prius at no more than 15mph, would it kill you? Could you do it? Why not a horse and buggy in the future, if oil is extremely expensive and scarce? With modern technology, we could make lightweight carriages with ball bearings and low rolling resistance tires, and aerodynamic like a Prius.

 

I see a lot of Amish people riding in the buggy drawn by a single horse along the roads in states south & east of Minnesota. It's pretty cool they do that year 'round

Mike :tea:

 

I can just picture it - 500 years from now, oil, coal, and CNG are exhausted, plutonium is exhausted, our society has disappeared, and the Amish are still riding across town in their horse carriages. haha

 

No doubt

Mike

 

If the readers of this long running discussion want to understand the predicament we are in regarding our energy future (and transportation energy in particular), do take a look at Tom Murphy's (Professor of Physics at UCSD) Blog "Doing the Math". This article is a good starting point:

http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/02/the-alternative-energy-matrix/

[His blog is entirely non-political and discusses only the overall physics of the various sources of energy].

 

One of the local recyclers sells B100, made from vegatable oil from the local restaurants and anyone else that brings it in. They suggest splash blending to B20 in non-modified vehicles. They do quality control in there conversion process and claim lower particulates and CO, but higher NOx.

Normally the B5 recomendations are because of low quality biodiesel. The high quality stuff should be fine as b20. B100 has some problems with non-modified emissions control equipement like particulate filters. There is also a program to generate biodiesel from animal fat, and its promoted on the "meat train" which runs this fat based biodiesel. The most interesting pilot programs are algea for the future. Europe has a tarrif on american biodiesel, or more would be produced and shipped.

 

AG not quite I believe B5 5% is consistent with ASTM D975 which is the automotive diesel specs. You are allowed to add up to 5% bio and still meet the D975 specs. In EU there is a mandate for B5 I think. Over 5% you may be on your own as far as new car warranty.
But probably works OK.

 

EV's, horses, and bikes.

 

Have you read about the pollution that horses put out? Manure everywhere. It was a big problem in NYC before the car. We do have some police on horses, but they only go on blocked off streets, and they are cleaned up.

 

A person has to design horse diapers ound:

Mike

 

Plan on fuel at $5 Liter ($20 gallon). Read Christopher Steiners (2011) $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better.. Even though oil permeates our entire culture, conduct your life so fuel price increases have minimum impact on you and your family.