>Keith Addison wrote: >>> I'm having a hard time finding WVO. I need 500 Gallons per month and >>> I'm tired of driving around and fighting for oil at every restaurant >>> within 10 miles. I've found other companies in other states that sell >>> and deliver larger quantities but nothing close to home. I'm just >>> outside of Philadelphia - has anyone heard or run into such an animal. >>> Thanks, >>> Roger >> >> Why do you need so much oil? That should be enough for 12 people. > >This is the US Keith :)
Yes, Chip, I know. :-) But it just doesn't wash. I also come from a big country, not that big, but big enough, so I know something about it. I quite often used to drive 1,000 miles each way for the weekend, or 400 each way for a different weekend. In an 850cc Mini, foot flat all the way at 80 mph, and not very much gas used. (I'm not small, 6ft 2in.) Japan's a big country too, in its way, narrow but long. Where you guys need a 6.8 litre F250 truck the Japanese use little 660cc K-trucks, for just about everything, very economical, tough and capable. Good 4x4 too, not easy to get stuck in a K-truck. They're real trucks, but miniaturised, not made-over cars. I don't think Japan would work very well without its K-trucks, I can see it sort of slowly grinding to a halt. There are K-cars too, all the K-vehicles have low taxes to encourage people to buy them. I wonder if your F250s accomplish that much more work than Japan's K-trucks do (let alone 10 times as much work, since they're 10 times as big), and what the real costs might be per unit of work accomplished in each case, or some such efficiency comparison. I've no idea where to find such data, if anywhere, but it might be a surprise. Anyway, the cases you describe don't seem to be typical for the US, according to these stats, source U.S. Department of Transportation: Average annual fuel consumed per vehicle (gallons) - Passenger car - 2005: 541 Average miles traveled per vehicle (thousands) - Passenger car: 12.4 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004727.html That's about what I thought, 12,000 miles a year, 500 gallons. So yes, Roger's 500 gallons a month should be enough for 12 people. I don't know, but I don't think he's in the same situation as you. He says he's just outside Philadelphia, he said before he works for a laboratory surplus equipment company, in Philadelphia I guess, though maybe not. So why does he need so much fuel? Interesting numbers at that infoplease page. Number of passenger cars registered 1960: 61,671,000 2005: 135,568,000 Did the US get twice as big in the meantime? No: Vehicle-miles traveled - Passenger car 1960: 587,000,000 2005: 1,689,965,000 It got three times as big! LOL! Sorry. <snip> >But still I see no real changes, just individual disasters. That's the problem eh? Ordinary people, the real ones, get hurt first, and the toy people don't feel a thing. I suppose long-haul will go by train, or not at all, trucks will be for local. Hm. The Japanese don't export the K-vehicles, but I think you can get second-hand K-trucks in the US now. Maybe some of your trucker friends might be interested in this: >http://www.best-used-tractors.com/mini_truck.html >Used Japanese 4X4 K-class Mini Trucks, Micro Trucks - US and Canada > >"The Japanese have been making right hand drive light duty trucks >for decades which Best Used Tractors can now import used in >containers to the US, to Canada, and to many other countries around >the globe." Bit of money to be made there, I think. Could even be trendy, sort of an anti-Hummer. Best Keith >Lemme see, 500 gal of svo, could yield 500 gals of bd, for >a 30 day month, that's ~17 gallons a day, in my F-250, >that get's 16-20mpg,if I drive it really gently, that's 300 miles >a day, but that's every day. Since I live 127 miles from where >I work, I could *almost* burn that much. However, I don't commute, >I only go home on the weekends, and I don't drive the truck :) > >Some folks will boggle at that. But around here, it's not as >far-fetched as one might -at first blush- think. > >Of the 80-some-odd folks that I work with, more than half of them >commute more than 50 miles a day, some more than 75. A few >well over 100. > >I personally drive just a bit over 70 miles a day on average. >On the road, I see vehicles coming in from much farther out >that are gigantic fuel burners. These are daily commuters, >2.5 to 5ton class diesel trucks close to fully loaded with >welders, etc. that probably log well over 200 miles a day, >and I'm sure they don't get anything like 15-20 mpg. > >So, yeah, I can see how some folks, trades people esp, who >would go through 500 gals a month. > >An interesting trend that I've been paying attention to >over the years are the 3/4 to 1 ton short bed crew cab >turbo diesel pickups, that are 'dressed' up, making >them essentially SUVs that haul up and down from much >futher out than i normally drive (which is already an >insane amount) who have no regard for anything resembling >speed limits. As the prices have climbed over the last >year, I've started seeing more and more of them in used >car lots, but there are plenty of them still on the road. >And they haven't even slowed down. > >So, though diesel has gone up nearly 2x in a year, seems >these folks are just fine with that. Lot of complaining, >but very little change in behavior. > >I also know, as in know personally, over the road truck >operators, who have been completely buried. done in >by this fuel increase. Sitting home, going through their >savings, hoping for a reversal of fortune, and looking >for different work. Some completely wiped out already. > >But still I see no real changes, just individual disasters. > >> >> Best >> > > Keith _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
