Where do you get your energy from? (biofuels)

http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?Where%20do%20%20you%20get%20your%20energy%20from?&StoryID=9BF1933F-64B1-4608-8C78-E5F03F8703C6&SectionID=F60D3E05-7185-44CB-BB45-97AC94420FD5

RUDOLF Diesel, the German inventor of the engine named after him, never got used to the idea that it ended up being powered by dirty, non-renewable crude oil, rather than the humble hemp oil he originally intended. Fifteen years after its invention in his 1897, he declared: “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.”

After a century which has turned out to be the age of oil, his prediction may actually now be coming true: Among the most promising future alternatives to crude oil are vegetable oils and ethanol, the alcohol that can be derived from any starchy crop such as wheat or corn.

Using these biofuels is not new. In 1908, Henry Ford’s Model T, which turned the automobile from an aristocrat’s plaything to a mode of mass transportation, was designed to run on corn ethanol. But the collapse in crude prices that followed the Texas oil rush destroyed the competitiveness of vegetable fats and corn spirits, and petrol emerged as the dominant fuel.

Now, as the price of oil continues to climb steadily upwards, biofuels from renewable sources are starting to look attractive again. The reasons for their adoption go beyond the sky-high cost of crude, however; in the US, energy security is high on the political agenda and the farming community, spying another use for its agricultural products, is lobbying hard; in Europe governments and consumers alike are preoccupied with curbing harmful emissions. Another impetus for change is the steady depletion of the world’s oil stocks.

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for biodiesel: http://www.nbb.org/buyingbiodiesel/retailfuelingsites/default.shtm

For Sonoma and Lake County:

San Francisco Petroleum Cardlock Fueling Station
4290 Santa Rosa Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95407

Solar Living Institute
13771 S. Highway 101
Hopland, CA 95449

Both sell B100. Plus the Real Goods store at the Solar Living Institute has many great solar-related items.
"Free Workshop: "Make Your Own Biodiesel" first Sunday of every month, 11am, at Real Goods. (Be aware that they are touting the $3,000 "FuelMeister(tm)," a do-it-yourself biodiesel processor.) In addition, Real Goods' sister, Solar Living Institute, occasionally schedules SVO workshops for a low fee.

the first part of 2006. I will be looking at the VW New Beetle TDI. I've surfed around on Yahoo auto listings, and there are a fair number of used ones for sale within 50 to 100 miles of where I live.

why can't they use batteries? I expect they have them but they are hidden away? It would be so much easier to just plug in to recharge at the battery station instead of the gas station. Solar powered cars too? We should use more light rail/tram/trolley systems.

As far as electric goes, it's not just about fuel, it's about energy. Where do we get the electricity?

Solar/windmill electricity. A friend of mine has windmills on his farm and they rely on wind and solar power.

We simply cannot replace all our automotive fuels with biofuels.

It's unsustainable.

Energy efficient electrified public transit (trolleys and trains) and short range electric personal vehicles are the only real options for future transportation.

...with emphasis on energy efficient - trolleys, autos etc., can be made strong and light weight with advanced materials and powered by small efficient electric motors. No need for energy hog Electric Hummer-Trains-Cars...

Many of the bio-diesel folks talk about that.

There is no reason to not be using bio-fuels. None at all. Talk about helping the farmers! Corn and soy take a long time to grow and there is only one crop per year. Both crops require pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides to make a profitable, low-cost crop (well, to a degree).

Hemp will give several crops in a year and will grow in basically any soil. It has few natural predators and usually grows quickly enough that it will tower over any other plant in a matter of a week.

Bio-diesel can be made quite handily from filtered and strained used fryer fat. Some friends of friends run an organic veggie farm in No. Wisc. They power their delivery vehicle with fryer fat they pick up from the DQ in town once a week. DQ has to pay about 50 cents a pound to have it removed. These folks pick it up, filter it, and use basically a methanol/sodium hydroxide process to make bio-diesel.