im 16 and just the other day in chemistry class we talked about a tree found in south america that produces a material that is combustible in diesel engines and scientists want to use it to make biodiesel. i think if the american government and whoever controls the oil could ppull there heads outa their @$$ we could actually use this. i think its bull crap the way the prices shoot up 50 cents for a dollar gain on a barrel of oil but only drop 10 cents for a 5 dollar drop in a price of oil. i live in indiana and in my town there r more diesels than at a truck dealership. but only one place that sells diesel and you have to have a credit card to buy it not to mention its like a dollar more than the a neighboring towns diesel. seriously this government is gonna put us o far down in a whole that no matter how rich u are you want b able too do anything. its a load of crap am i right?

 

Hate to tell you but the only thing that the us government can control on the price of gas or diesel is the taxes which they are not going to lower and that is by the gallon and the miles not the price. In other words they are going to get their money no matter what. They also tax the profit on the oil companys that is also passed on to us.
With all the talk of taxing the oil companys more and putting more restrictions on them all this will also be passed on to the end user so get ready. What ever we burn for diesel the governments price for gallon will not go down and at currant technology oil is the cheapest form of diesel or gas.

 

There is another problem the same groups of people that keep our oil companys limited on producing and refining oil doesn't want and spends a lot of money keeping trees from beeing harvested even and particularly south america.When those people have to use corncobs to wipe with because we can't afford paper anymore they might start rethinking their goals. But on the bright side farmers will get a lot more money for their corncobs to offset their fuel cost that they will no longer be able to afford.

 

At least Diesel and Gas has gone down some. I really don't know the politics behind all of this. At UPS were starting to get alot of CNG trucks and running them on a converted cummins engine. They have really done quite a few advancements since eairly model CNG trucks we have. The old ones were limited to 80miles per fill and the new ones can clear 200 miles per fill. Better regulators, more efficent engines and turbos and tanks that can store more cng. (suposibly supposed to get 300 miles but I don't think they get that on 3300lbs of pressure) CNG is starting to be a big thing in this area of oklahoma. Its a alot cheaper as well but I don't know how well it works in smaller vehicles due to the heavy tanks. Also from what I understand is that natural gas is plentifull so why not use it. We have now got well over 50 new cng trucks and planing to have 150 cng trucks by febuary of 09. They are sending out all of our diesels and some gassers for these. Amazingly they have alot of power compared to the old cngs as well. They are not dogs anymore. Its a little off diesel but still effects us.

 

20 years ago diesel was plentyful and cheap.
Cost per gallon was 1/4 the price of gasoline.
Then everyone started driving diesel cars and trucks.
Now look at diesel.

When everyone switches to CNG, it will do the same thing.
Our natural gas heat bill just took a 40% increase from last year.

Some of the Natural Gas companies here have been running their vehicles on CNG for 15 years or so.
The well tenders all drove 250's or 350's with a load of tools.
When they installed the first systems, the guys had to switch back to gasoline to climb a lot of the hills.

Then someone invented a dual curve distributor, one for gasoline and a different one for CNG.
When this upgrade went into the CNG conversion, the difference was like night and day as far as power went.

Now with the dual curve and computer control, they have as much power with CNG as they do with gasoline.
Switching from one to the other is just like switching from the front tank to the rear tank, flip the switch while driving down the road.

 

The plant you are talking about is a Palm Oil. The major problem with palm oil is that it requires lot of land to produce it and it needs to grow in a warm to even tropic climate. This means that a lot of deforestation is occurring in areas like South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America to make room, even more of the rain forests are being cleared to make room for the palm oils. According to "experts" this will add another 1.3 to our carbon emissions.But then again, it's all in who you believe, I had a Biology teacher back in college who thought we would all be dead by now from all this "pollution" anyway.

The benefit is that now these poor areas finally have a good source of income. The money from palm oil is being used to establish hospitals in these poor areas and set up relief shelters.

But I really doubt it will help the price any, most of these countries will realize the high potential for profit and they will more likely keep the price high to satisfy their own needs.

 

I think the plant he is referring to is the jathopha plant. It grows in hot semi arid country's. It has a bean when processed produces an oil very much like diesel. Produces 58 - 73 gal of bio diesel per acre. Can be produced for about $43.00 per barrell. It will not tolerate cold weather. Check jathrpha in
in Wikipedia, they have a great article. There may just be an alternative to oil, but it will never be cheap.

Today the New York Times is encouraging Obama to add taxes to this cheap oil, so it will then cost at least $100.00. I suspected this line of thinking would soon be presented, because the only way you can get people to conserve is to get the price up, so they have to conserve. Europe has done this for years, and they have adjusted. Diesel there was $8.00 per gallon this past summer when we were $4.00.

 

Isn't CNG about $3.00 per gallon. Once everyone switches it will go to $10.00. Last propane I bought, 4.5 gallons cost $15.00.

 

THIS IS SO TRUE, and the geoup that does this, blames the other group for all the trouble that the first group causes... (whewww)
I got that off my chest, and feel better...

 

LOL, well jathropha grows where most trees can't grow. It can survive and produce on 10 inches of yearly rainfall. It helps with soil erosion, so the tree huggers would love it. Actually you don't cut the tree, you harvest the seeds that are 40% oil content.

 

Try checking on wikipedia for Palm Oil it is also a source of Biodiesel. Jatropha Oil is also a source. Right now the Biologists that I know are more excited about Palm Oil than the others. Their biggest concerns are the deforestation it causes though.

 

I personally think algea based bio-diesel is going to be where we go.
Basically grows anywhere, all you really need is a green house. Some paces you don't even need that.
Grows fast and a lot more per yield per acre.
We don't have to cut down trees to get it. y Because you know trees can feel it when you cut them down, right? They cry and everything. It's SO sad.
AND.... WE'RE NOT EATING IT!
Let's quit making fuel out of our food and make it out of scum.
I'm not sure what the hold-up is on this!?

That's one of the reasons I'm "in" diesel for the long haul; there's A LOT of stuff you can burn in a diesel. High-tech, computer controlled gas engines aren't as flexible.

 

Hey guys...
Could you imagine driving/towwing a truck that is powered by batteries??

 

Whats there to imagine? its already been done many times before. Even ford briefly offered a factory electric version of the ranger before they pulled the plug on it (no pun intended). Although many home conversions out performed it. The weight isn't that big a deal, if thats what you are referring to...

I agree about algea though. The stuff can literally turn pollution into fuel. Whats not to like!

 

Electric vehicles still need power from somewhere, which right now is mostly generated by burning coal and transmitted over power lines that are already at capacity.

Most of the east coast and California would blow every power line they have if 15% of the cars there were plugged in tonight.

The only infrastructure we have in place right now to deliver energy for vehicles is the oil industry.

Changing vehicles to run on another form of energy is all fine and dandy, but where is the infrastructure that is going to support them?

There are probably over 300 gas stations within 10 miles of my house.
10 of them have diesel.
2 of them have CNG available to the public, and one of them is closed for renovations till the end of next month.

Yes, several of the local gas companies have CNG vehicles, but their facilities are for company vehicles only.

Talk about lines at the refilling station, I can see it now.

It is 21 degees outside right now.
So WVO, SVO and WMO would not be an option without tank heaters installed.
And that takes electrical power to operate them 24/7 in the winter.

So my thoughts are just reducing one form of energy use and changing it to an increase in another form of energy, possibly at even higher costs is a step sideways at best and very possibly a step backwards.