Anyone see the diesel running on Vegetable oil on last nights TV show?
It was great! The only modification required was to route the fuel line near some heat (provided by the cooling hoses) to thin the veggie oil a bit.
Absolute genius.
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It'll become like heating oil - "have you paid duty on it?"
You'll have to justify WHY you are buying 10 gallons of Mazola - Chip shop owners will be visted by Customs and Excise in the middle of the night, to make sure they aren't cheating...
:)
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Too right Ian. IIRC for each 30's worth of Veggie oil you use in your car you have to send Gordon 40p.
Still no incriminating dye in it and I doubt the rozzers are wise to it yet.
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An exhaust smelling like the local chippie may be a clue!
Regards
john
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Yes, I saw the item and thought it too good to be true. However, there are websites devoted to just this subject but, they seem to involve a very complicated and precise preparation and mix etc. The item on TV was remarkable for it's simplicity and, I am sure that we are going to hear more about the system demonstrated. I do feel that this is an area where the farming community could benefit after the hard knocks of foot & mouth etc because, so I understand, rape oil seed will produce a similar, compression combustible product. The tax situation on fuel, though onerous, does benefit us all eventually and , in my opinion, this method of "diesel" oil production should be investigated and evaluated by some government body.
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Hey!
Spotty McDonalds workers!
Buy a diesel car, and then just top up the tank when you get to work!
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John,
Can you tell us how " The tax situation on fuel, though onerous, does benefit us all eventually"
Many thanks
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I should love to Alwyn but, do I detect just a hint of (good natured, of course)
controversy in your query ? However, I will resist rising to the bait and would only say that, in my opinion, any tax, even if it seems unfair and not being seen to return many benefits to the actual payer, does help us all, somewhere. Motoring, especially fuel, taxes are more than onerous but, some of those biggest industries, ie, vehicles, fuel suppliers etc, through taxation,help a vast proportion of the less fortunate in our society. Yes, it's unfair but, many societies throughout the world do envy us and, if you can pay the tax, without financial distress to you and yours, you are one of the lucky ones
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How the devil does a tax on fuel benefit SWMBO and myself?
We are despised old Tories, for whom there are minimal benefits. We just pay for them!
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good program,
however, the only slight hitch is that the engine will not start on pure veggie oil, it still needs the road diesel to start, and then when the veggie oil has been heated by the engine coolant, it is thin enough to go through the injectors.
still, it is the best alternative i've seen.
don't forget that grabbing gordon still wants 49 PENCE A LITRE, for the priviledge of us using something that was going to be dumped.
newbs
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Whilst we are on the topic of alternative fuel, has anyone heard about Fuel Cell technology? There are some excellent web sites dedicated to this potentially revolutionary energy source. There are even exact diagrams and instructions on building your own cell, almost unlimited power from H2O, emissions being steam and vapour. I meet a chap in s.france who is planning to fit such a cell into his Land Rover, he is however an engineer and very confident with such inovative things. He has priced the total costs of construction at about £2000 to £3000, so it sounds economic enough.
I can't remeber the exact web site adresses, but just search Google with 'Fuel Cell' as the topic, you will be pleasently suprised.
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Whilst we are on the topic of alternative fuel, has anyone heard about Fuel Cell technology? There are some excellent web sites dedicated to this potentially revolutionary energy source. There are even exact diagrams and instructions on building your own cell, almost unlimited power from H2O, emissions being steam and vapour. I meet a chap in s.france who is planning to fit such a cell into his Land Rover, he is however an engineer and very confident with such inovative things. He has priced the total costs of construction at about £2000 to £3000, so it sounds economic enough.
I can't remeber the exact web site adresses, but just search Google with 'Fuel Cell' as the topic, you will be pleasently suprised.
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Oh F***!
Now they have an excuse to tax water!!
:)
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Martin
Sorry to disappoint, but fuel cells don't run on water! They run on hydrogen and air. The hydrogen fuel is combined with oxygen from the air to produce water vapour and electricity. It's akin to a battery being fed a continuous supply of electrolyte, converting chemical energy to electrical energy without the intermediate step of operating a conventional energy producer such as a power station. Although fuel cells are very efficient converters of energy (c90% of the fuel energy is converted to electricity) the big snag is of course where the fuel comes from. It makes little sense to produce hydrogen using conventional fuel sources just to run a fuel cell.
That's a bit like the 'zero emissions' fallacy of electric vehicles. Zero tailpipe emissions, yes, but unless the electricity used to charge the batteries came from renewables, then there were emissions. I'm not saying there may not be benefits, but 'Emissions relocation' is a better description.
The fuel for a fuel cell can theoretically be any hydro carbon, provided a reformer is used to produce the pure gas for the cell, but these are still some way off. Some manufacturers are looking at this option to replicate the standard vehicle refueling system and to use the current worldwide fuel infrastructure.
I'm sorry to say they don't produce 'unlimited power'. They obey the laws of physics like everything else, and only put out a proportion of the fuel energy put into them.
As for building your own....
Well given that there are huge research projects going on worldwide at present to produce efficient, reliable fuel cells at reasonable cost I have to say I have my doubts! The materials used are extremeely high tech., plus, where do you get the fuel, and at what cost?
Yes, they offer the promise of 'clean' energy in some circumstances, but they've a long way to go.
regards
John
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a while ago i heard of a car that ran on water, the water went into a tank and the hydrogen was separated from the water. the ONLY thing that comes out of the exhaust is water.
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Alwyn - it's bl**dy obvious! We give Gordon our cash, and he buys submarines!
Sometimes you can be so dense!!!
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We could all convert to nuclear powered cars, as it's so safe and reliable, don't worry about emissions, the passengers will all glow green, so it will save on head-lights during the night!
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Alwyn
Clearly you don't understand the nature and purpose of government. By taking our money from us and spending it on our behalf, the government ensures that the money is not spent on incorrect and inappropriate things (fast cars, shotguns and whisky), but on things that are of enormous benefit to society as a whole (long reports on the future of various public services, written by Lord Birt). One could in fact argue that the government should tax us at 100% of our total income, and then use this money to provide us with all the things which it determines that we need...
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Or you could just move to Cuba...
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Its getting that way.....
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Sorry Martin,
Although I assume that your post was a bit tongue in cheek, that is exactly the kind of pre-concieved notion which prevents a rational debate on the future of energy supplies.
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Well if you live near any of Britain's nuclear power plants, you good test their leakage rates by having the teeth of your children checked for radioactive content, you could also consider the exponential rate of lukemia and cancer within a certain radius of the plants. You will find, if you consult the statistics of researchers at Manchester Uni back in 1988 that bazaar and strange medical anomalies occur within 15 miles of all of Britain's nuclear plants.
Property is also baazarly cheaper in these regions. Wonder what this is pointing to?
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During the 79/80 iranian problems, local farmers were encouraged to plant 10% of their land with sunflowers to generate enough oil for their tractors - but when the (expected) crisis didn't materialise, they all went back to fuel-pump diesel.
Does anybody recall the early 90s experiment with oil seed rape - used on some busses somewhere? Did it continue?
I suppose it's all a question of resistance to change.
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Look at www.veg-oil-car.com for a guide to the whole thing. It's down at the moment due to too much traffic on the website, but it's worth a look.
It's run by the geezer who turned up on Adam Hart-Davies's show Science shack driving a Mercedes with a chip-shop aroma.
V
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To summarise John Davis's post:
The only thing that hurts more than paying income tax is not having the income to pay it on.
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where does spending over a million pounds a month on keeping the millenium dome open come on MY list of priorities, as compared to say investing that money on infrastucture.
i am quite happy to pay road fuel duty, as long a it goes to funding transport.
we all know it doesn't.
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This is explained by the fact that what the government giveth, it must first taketh away.
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THe Philippine government is trialling a coco-diesel project. They have enough coconut trees to last 'em a goodly time, and all replaceable. Next time a bus passes me and I have olfactory sensations suggesting shapely brown bodies sunning themselves on warm white sand beaches, down boy it'll just be the coco-diesel.
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The most inane government pronouncement that I have seen for a long time is on the motorcycle VED consultation site.
It states that the government intends to switch the main thrust of taxes from goods, such as products and labour to "bads" such as pollution.
Such a total mismatch between the senses of "goods" and "bads" is worthy only of a fourth form school debate and shows just how far things have been dumbed down.
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