Slashdot Mirror
N.Y. Governor Pushing for Alternate Fuels
Aviran Mordo writes to tell us that the Governor of New York is pushing hard for the widespread availability of both ethanol and biodiesel on the New York State Thruway and 100 more locations around the state. From the article: "Costs and further details of the plan, which Pataki first sketched out in his State of the State address on Wednesday, will not be disclosed until he makes his budget proposal later this month. If the plan is approved by the Legislature, it will give New Yorkers one of the nation's most diverse ranges of fuel choices. Only Minnesota offers an ethanol-rich blend known as E85 at more than 100 stations. Likewise, biodiesel is offered at only a few hundred of the nation's roughly 180,000 stations."
... NY doesn't make corn like Indiana.
One of the distinct advantages to using ethanol as a fuel is having a local distillation/production facility. While we still have to truck in gas since NY isn't exactly rich in oil wells we still lack the excess starch production that can be used as feedstock to columns.
Given our rather poor winter heat (ie, freezing-ass cold) even MORE energy is going to be required for production.
Now, that said, I realize this only address the distribution points within the state. Having a couple of fuel stops, every other one say, that produce E85 would be great and I'd run it. But there's just no easy way to 'make' it yet because we're so energy poor- the key to cheap fuel is recycling as much waste heat as possible (solar capture to preheat stock, exchangers around the condenser, etc)
But hey, it's a step forward, right?
I'm unfamiliar as a whole with the topic, but is a special type of vehicle required to use ethanol-rich fuel or biodiesel?
Pataki is a twit. He says he wants biodiesel to be made available, yet he has let the moronic authorities in his state make it IMPOSSIBLE TO PURCHASE A NEW DIESEL AUTOMOBILE THERE (as is the case in a growing number of other states as well). Talk about transparent lip service. What a doofus.
The entire rest of the world outside of North America is embracing diesel passenger car technology, as it dramatically improves fuel economy, lowering greenhouse gas production in the process - even before you consider biodiesel, which is an essentially neutral carbon cycle participant which produces no net CO2.
The "Big Three" US automakers already have the technology for E85. Ethanol is the primary automobile fuel in Brazil, and all the automakers mass produce cars for the Brazillian market which run very well on ethanol. There is not any need for expensive pie-in-the-sky research projects: the technology is here, and it works well.
Alternative fuels might be good for many reasons. But why not also change the engine at the same time? Turbine engines are used in trucks since a long time http://turbinetruckengines.com/index2.html and even Chrysler invested into turbine engines for cars http://www.allpar.com/mopar/turbine-photos.html . Turbine engines have many advantages. Combined with an electric motor-generator concept, like in the Toyota Prius (w/ old piston engine, sigh), things become really interesting. Adding fuel alternative is easy with turbine engines.
This site seems to debunk much of the hype over ethanol. It also has some choice things to say about the "hydrogen economy". I don't know how credible their analysis is, comment if you think it's crapola or not.