posted April 21, 2005 09:52 PM            

Although petroleum and gas can fall into that category, it is more specialized. I know that there are a couple of companies looking into taking products such as corn, debris, trash..etc.. and turning them into a type of fuel.

I think that in order for it to work, there will have to be 1) a company willing to invest the big bucks and 2) a car company willing to change their models in order to run on that type of fuel.

It is all about incentives..

I will see what I can find out about it though

Thanks for thinking of me...(blush)...

Pidaua

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Better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
Andre Gide

"Lahn dádzaayú nahikai leh ni' nyelíí k'ehge," Goyathlay (Geronimo)

"Once we moved like the Wind"

posted April 21, 2005 10:13 PM              

Brasil uses this fuel, and to great advantage, I might add. Thailand does (limitedly) too.

posted April 22, 2005 12:47 AM              

"IT'S ABOUT gas prices, gas prices, gas prices." That is how House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) explained the House Republicans' passage of an energy bill yesterday. Yet President Bush, in a major energy speech on Wednesday, conceded that "an energy bill wouldn't change the price at the pump today." We are inclined to take the president's view, not only because it's silly to pretend that a single piece of legislation would immediately affect drivers, but because this particular piece of legislation is unlikely to bring them any relief -- ever.

For -- hard though it is to believe -- this is indeed almost exactly the same energy bill that the House passed last year, but that never passed the Senate. It contains just about all of the provisions that were controversial before, mandating drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and relieving the makers of MTBE, a gasoline additive that appears to poison drinking water, of liability. It also contains some new measures that will make it easier for the oil, gas and hydroelectric power industries to defy local environmental and other regulations. More to the point, it will fail to give this country the truly revolutionary energy policy it desperately needs. Instead of pointing the way toward an eventual transition from fossil fuels to other energy sources -- a transition that would have environmental as well as national security benefits -- the bill will simply make Americans even more dependent on oil and gas than they are now.

As before, the bill contains sizable subsidies for the oil and gas industries (and all kinds of other groups as well) although Mr. Bush himself has pointed out that in a time of high prices, this is hardly the economic sector that needs the most help. More important is what the bill does not contain: Any measures to limit automobile fuel consumption, one of the main sources of high fossil fuel demand -- and pollution -- in this country. Not that a congressional vote is necessary: The president could raise auto mileage standards simply through regulation if he chose to do so.

There is some hope that the Senate will at least be able to modify this bill. The Senate Energy Committee chairman, Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), has said, for example, that he will not try to put the objectionable MTBE provisions into the Senate bill. There are hints, too, that Senate Republicans, realizing they could once again have trouble passing energy legislation without Democratic cooperation, are looking for compromises. But if they can't get major changes to this legislation, senators should prepare to stop it. Once again, gridlock would be an improvement over this House measure.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7925-2005Apr21.html

FACTBOX - Major Provisions of US House Energy Bill
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USA: April 22, 2005

WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives was expected to approve on Thursday a wide-ranging $8 billion bill to promote domestic energy production.

The Senate Energy Committee is scheduled to finish writing its version of an energy bill next month, which would be followed by a vote in the full Senate. Both versions of the legislation, once approved by each chamber, must be reconciled into a final bill.
Key elements of the House bill include the following:

OIL/GAS

* Opens Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling.

* Suspends federal royalty payments five years for drilling in Gulf of Mexico deep water of more than 400 meters.

* Earmarks $2 billion in royalties from federal Outer Continental Shelf for research in ultra-deepwater drilling.

* Eases environmental constraints to build or expand oil refineries in economically depressed areas.

* Expands the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by 300 million barrels to 1 billion barrels, and halts new shipments if US oil futures prices rise above $40 per barrel.

* Authorizes more than $3 billion in research for oil, gas and coal industries.

* Gives Federal Energy Regulatory Commission final say if localities object to new liquefied natural gas projects.

FUEL/TRANSPORTATION

* Limits product liability for makers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a fuel additive and suspected carcinogen that has fouled groundwater in cities across the nation.

* Bans MTBE use by 2014 and gives more than $1.7 billion in transition aid for MTBE makers to switch to other products.

* Cuts number of special gasoline blends now required to ease air pollution in cities and regions.

* Requires at least 5 billion gallons of corn-blended ethanol be used in US gasoline supply by 2012.

* Offers $750 million in subsidies to build new ethanol production plants.

COAL

* Doubles funding to develop low-emission coal plants to $2.5 billion.

* Offers federally guaranteed loans for five petroleum coke plants and a coal gasification plant in West Virginia.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

* Extends expiring accident insurance protection for owners of nuclear power plants by 20 years.

* Spends $1.3 billion for experimental Idaho reactor that would also produce hydrogen fuel.

ELECTRICITY

* Sets mandatory reliability standards for the electric power grid to prevent a repeat of the August 2003 blackout that left 50 million people in the dark.

* Offers financial incentives to generate more electricity from solar, wind, biomass and geothermal sources.

MISCELLANEOUS

* Extends annual US daylight-saving time by two months to cut energy use.

* Extends deadline for cities downwind of polluting factories to comply with smog standards if states can prove that most pollution comes from outside their borders.

* Requires 20 percent cut in federal buildings' energy use by 2015.

* Authorizes more than $3 billion annually to help poor families pay winter heating bills.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30498/story.htm

posted April 28, 2006 09:06 PM              

Wouldn't it cost more to produce gasohol than oil?

This may be the next fuel source...that's what I hear...and have heard for awhile. Just wondering when it will be implemented?

But still it does release hydrocarbons...greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, though not to the extent oil does.

A closed loop system would probably be best...like the use of hydrogen fuel, which can be recycled from water. And it's as clean as you can get. Also water levels seem to be rising so why not use H20 as an energy source? Problem, though not sure if it's still a problem, is finding a safe and easy way to extract that energy from hydrogen.

posted April 29, 2006 10:41 AM              

That's the neatest part.