For home use, the one thing you can do to bump up efficiency is to use your biofueled engine in a cogen arrangement. heat and electricity are both produced in a biofueled generator. a vw diesel, powered by biodiesel, can produce 20kw of electric, and 60kw of heat.
Steve Spence Subscribe to the Renewable Energy Newsletter: http://www.webconx.com/subscribe.htm Renewable Energy Pages - http://www.webconx.com Palm Pilot Pages - http://www.webconx.com/palm X10 Home Automation - http://www.webconx.com/x10 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (212) 894-3704 x3154 - voicemail/fax We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. -- ----- Original Message ----- From: "biofuels" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@egroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 4:09 AM Subject: Re: [biofuel] one last time > No - not long-winded, but demonstrating the amount of typescript it takes to > record even a short conversation! But I would agree with anyone who > commented that we are just doing a bit of cherry picking - the subject of > sustainable energy is vast. > There's nothing wrong with using an IC engine, inefficient as it is, in the > right place and in lieu of anything better - the point is, is the > replacement really better, or is it a sparkle in the eye of some > grant-grabbing researcher? I know that Ballards have received an awful lot > of money from public sources, but the most eco-friendly chain of events I > know of go like - > Organically-produced methane from waste matter, lightly compressed into > liquid form, used by a fuel cell to produce electricity, which is then use > by a Lynch high efficiency (95%) motor. Other viable power sources are > organically produced vegetable oil, used straight in an IC engine (same as > Dr Diesel did) and biodiesel made from recycled cooking oil. > Fuel cell efficiencies range from the 40% of the PAFC type (phosphoric acid) > to 60% MCFC (molten carbonate salt) but, as Jerry points out, they do need a > lot of peripherals. > Anyhow, in view of the fact that they have been developing fuel cells since > 1952, how come we are not all using them? Boo-boom! > And yes, there are fuel cells running on ethanol - trouble is, the > denaturing required by law for we poor mortals screws up the reaction! > In round figure terms, it takes 75% of the energy content to make methanol > (wood alcohol), 25% to make ethanol (hic) and 15% (or less) to make > biodiesel. > OK - a good one - as long as we all agree on something. > Have a nice day! > Terry > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
