New Fuel Source.

Post by **Boxer** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:10 am

http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/45361195801127935317

What! Dirt farmers will be the new chic sheiks! Iowa will be taken over by the energy barons! Corn will be worshipped again!

Post by **Shaman** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:15 am

I read somewhere the cost of cultivating corn and/or potatos for the fuel outweighs its benefits until cast gets much more expensive than it is right now.

Post by **Biff's R** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:58 pm

Actually they currently have flex fuel vehicles in Brazil. They can run on gas, or ethanol made from sugar cane. I guess the Brazilian gov't mandated that all gas stations had at least one ethanol pump. I guess that they have reduced their foreign oil dependence from 80% to 15%. I saw this on a show on The History Channel about sugar.

It is also interesting to see the variety of diesel automobiles in Europe. After looking at their fuel economy stats, it makes the Prius look kind of lame.

Post by **new2BMW** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:15 pm

I read somewhere the cost of cultivating corn and/or potatos for the fuel outweighs its benefits until cast gets much more expensive than it is right now.

It's the same with hydrogen power for vehicles. Currently, the cost outweighs the benefits, but the cost keeps coming down as new ideas come into play.

Not to get into a political debate, because both sides are guilty of favoring the oil companies, but the government needs to spend more on this kind of research and promote it seriously. In fact, there are a lot of things that can be done immediately with a little promotion from Uncle Sam.

In Mexico City the city government provides tax breaks and investment support for private taxi and bus owners to use natural gas instead of gasoline. This is of course intended for polution control more than fuel efficiency, but it has had a very positive effect on polution in Mexico City.

Here in Tokyo, a taxi costs 660 yen as the minimum fare (about $6) This is the mandated minimum set by the taxi union and sanctioned by the government. However, if the taxi itself is a hybrid electric vehicle, the minimum fare is only 500 yen. The private owner of the taxi may pay more initially for the car, but he has a cost advantage to attract more customers and his fuel efficiency is much better.

Now, I'm going to jump on my 1700cc motorcycle and go for a ride to nowhere just for fun!

Have a nice weekend!
Jeff