It all began in 2007 when Sapphire Energy stated they were able to obtain a successful product "Green Crude" from algae. Processing this green crude could yield chemical gasoline equivalents, diesel and even jet fuel.

The investments received by Sapphire will help them reach thier daily target of 10.000 barrels of algae fuel and smoothen commercial scale production by 2011-2012. No information was given on what the technology will be used, whether it will be photo bio-reactors but judging by what the large coroprate companies are investing in it will most likely be photo bio-reactors as opposed to open pond biofixation process,  that yes do require major invesments but do give higher yields.

The system uses a revolutionary new approach where CO2 is regenerated through algae in a home unit, allowing the user to produce bio-oil (up to 2500 litres per year tax-free).

Origo Industries is displaying its technology for the first ever time at the UK’s largest Green Motor Show, Green-Car-Guide Live! 2008, sponsored by Masternaut Three X.

Green-Car-Guide Live! 2008 will take place on Thursday 12th June 2008 from 10am to 4pm at the new award-winning Arena & Convention Centre in Liverpool. The event is aimed at businesses and other organisations with vehicle fleets, and entrance is free, although admission will only be possible by pre-registration at www.Green-Car-Guide.com.

We at "consider tomorrow" are going to try and bridge that gap.  Whether it be Hydrogen, CNG, E85, or bio diesel, we think that infrastructure is the main problem why people are still going to the gasoline pump everyday to fill up.  We believe that if there was a Nat Gas pump across the street from Shell or Exxon that people might start to believe that it is possible to change their cars over.  Even before that, people(us, you, him, her) need to believe that our dependency on foreign oil has helped catapult us into this downward spiral.

We need people to go to T. Boone Picken's website or CNG NOW and educate themselves on what is going on around us.  We need to go the Department of Energy website and find out where there are filling stations that are already in existance.  We don't think people understand that we are on the verge of an energy revolution and we want to swing that pendulum so that everyone hops on board.

thoughts?  ideas?

Take a stand....Make a Difference

L.J.

Super busy day running around gathering up parts for the processor, but significant progress was made.  With the exception of a 55 gallon steel drum (open top) for the drying tank and misc. iron pipe all the major components are on hand or en route!  The pic on right is the used 58 gallon electric water heater that I scored for $50 on Craigslist.  Not sure how much sediment is inside it, but the outside looks to be in decent shape.  That size will let me do 40 gallon batches which is sweet.  To its right is my major coup of the weekend.  It is an 80 gallon welded well tank.  The steel is significantly thicker than a steel drum so it will weld nicer and it is already plumbed with most of the threaded holes I need.  Best of all it has a drain in the coned bottom so it will drain 100% clean.  I will need to add a vent hole to the top and probably one to the side, but it is very close to done.  The well tank retailed for $280, but whoever special ordered it at Menard's apparently backed out.  I have been eyeing it on the clearance rack for a month where it sat for $75.  Sunday I grabbed the plumbing manager and offered $50 to "take it off his hands".  Sold!  It would make an incredible processor with its cone bottom (good for draining off glycerin), but until I figure out how to add heat cheaply it will be a settling tank for the WVO.  WVO left to sit for 3-4 weeks is significantly easier to process and dry as all the junk settles to the bottom.  The yellow can is me just being optimistic ;)

I have been scouring the region for plastic barrels and steel drums, and finally I was able to get my hands on 3 white (so you can see how full they are) plastic barrels for $20 each.  Best of all I was able to fit all 3 into the golf in one trip!!  The cubic feet available in that hatch is flipping unreal.  One drum will be a washing tank for the processed Biodiesel, one will be used to store finished BD, and the final one will be an additional storage tank for WVO as it ages.  This will give me the ability to have WVO on site that is "new" and another tank (likely the well tank) that is ready to go.  Nice.

Also in the pic is the 1" "clear water" pump from Harbor Frieght.  These little pumps are almost legendary for their utility and bulletproof history.  While typically $40 -already a steal, my good luck continued as this was their display model and they had it 50% off!  This pump will be used to move fluids all around the system- from the settling tank to the processor, for mixing the WVO into BD, for transferring the BD into the wash tank where it will also do the washing, and then finally it should be able to pump the clean diesel into the storage tank.  To have one pump do all that, you need ALOT of valves.  I picked up 5 3/4" brass valves at Farm and Fleet today for $5.50 each.  Very close to completing the gathering phase, soon it will be time to assemble!

Total outlay so far is $275 with around $100 to go -all this for a kit that can make 2500 gallons of fuel per year.  Unbelievable.  With another $100 invested for more washing and settling tanks the kit can do 12,000+ gallons per annum -a batch a day.  Sourcing feedstock for that would be a chore though.

Hopefully the 15 gallon carboys I found on eBay will get here soon so I can start gathering WVO -if so I will be on track for my 10/31 deadline!  

-Rob

My family runs a distributor company. We generally provide Biodiesel delivery to all kinds of people, including agricultural. Mr. Nathan Branch whom runs Florida Hot Shot Services has shady and quite unethical business practices. We dropped a load of 300 gals of fuel to Nathan, he gave us a check - everything cashed out fine and he liked the fuel.

We dropped off another load of 300 gals the next week, he gave us a check, everything seemed like normal. Nathan called us on Sept. 15 and asks if we can drop another load of at least 200 gals off to him, but he wanted to give us a check on Monday and ask us to hold it until Friday. Well in God We Trust, everyone else needs to pay cash LOL :-).

We declined his somewhat shady offer at the time, and asked him to call us back when he had the funds available. No biggie right? We tried to call him in earnest a few times after this call. Nobody ever answered! Well no wonder why...Well this asshole put a stop payment on the check for the 2nd load for the amount of $1080.00. WHAT THE FUCK?????? He kept the fuel, NEVER EVER called us to say something was wrong....so why?

I personally called this sorry ass redneck and left a message for him that I was going to sue him for the thousand dollars and we would be speaking with the police to let them know a bad check had been written for that amount.

Suddenly, surprise! He called me...he stated that he never called us on Sept. 15th which is fucking hysterical since he called my cell phone and I have data proof of this call. Then, he tells us the fuel was bad...so I asked why did you call and ask for more? He said he never did. LOLOL!

After a few calls of screaming obscenities & threats - suddenly he calls back and says.....I only used about 30 gallons and you can come get the rest....Hmmmm funny - If the fuel was bad, why did you use 30 gallons of it? We have run this fuel in our own personal diesel truck without any problems at all. I smelled bullshit for miles with this excuse.

Seems to me, he didn't have any money. He stopped the check right after we declined to hold his next check. Coinscidence or UFO involvement? Hmmmm....

So to all you  people whom are thinking about using Mr. Nathan Branch or Florida Hot Shot Services -- PLEASE DO YOUR SELF A FAVOR AND FIND ANOTHER HOT SHOT SERVICE!!

It has become disappointing to see the decline in American society which dictates scumbags like this being dishonest and down right unethical.

Então tá... On the road again...

Solar water heaters

Thing about solar heaters are they are very simple to construct. The one on the left was built from scrap the one on the right is a model that is available for sale in the Philippines direct from a store. The 12 hours of sunlight will guarantee hot water everyday but please be cautious with the hot water produced and the location of your solar heater (incase it burns someone else). Very cheap and there is very little to go wrong. Advise trying to build it so its gravity fed so you have nothing to worry about pumps or over complicating the system. There are plenty of people online sharing plans and ideas and a quick google search for "solar heaters" will produce plenty of results.

Solar Panels

 The big thing about solar panels is they are reducing in costs as the demand goes up. The ones in the Photo are only producing 40w and cost around £200 and thats in the UK. Advantages of Solar panels is things can be added in stages. For example setting up with a couple of panels and a battery bank to run your lighting suddenly you no longer have lighting running off the mains. As time goes on you can look at your Aircon, TV, laptop etc. and look at matching with units that will cover all your electric needs and reduce your costs. One of the big advantages is "brown out" because you are likely to be the only house in the area with electricity when the power is down. Unless your neighbours have noisy generators. Running costs will be minimal and there are already people either supplying or manufacturing in Manila. There is also a dealer in Makati Cebu.  If you can get your electric costs down to zero how much does that impact your life?

Wind Turbines

 Wind turbines are a bit expensive but the output seems to be much higher than solar panels (thats if your in an area that gets constant wind). The one shown is around £800 and outputs 400w of 12v electricity. Im hopefully going to be able to add one of these to our lot to help create enough electric for the bigger appliances in the house. But will have to take a few readings of wind before i offer up a large chunk of change as the same money spent on solar panels maybe a better option.

A few things you may not have thought of :-

 You are probably wondering what this is.. Well if you have cattle and struggle with termites eating your wooden picket fences etc. Or maybe moving pigs/goats etc. round your farm well this is "Striker" a solar electric fence module allowing you to create a fenced area that your cattle will feel a "buzz" once then know not to touch. The advantages are obvious and quite a long list could be given over conventional alternatives. These have been used in Canada for many years already. Its something im going to get my hands on to hopefully create a secure enviroment for my pigs and goats and in return the cattle will give me a well turned over and fertilized piece of land for producing crops. Pigs for example shouldnt stay on the same piece of land more than 2 years in a row so having a moveable fence is the best way of using our land aswell as gives pigs an outside life where possible.

Now the pictures above are an Aerator. Which this one is way to big for what i need but the picture gives you an idea of what its doing. Big problem with breedinig intensive fish is getting enough oxygen in the water lack of production can result in the fish dying in large numbers. So getting a setup thats "ideal" for the size of pond or containers your using would be a great way to produce fish and at the same time keep your running costs of electricity to Zero. This also allows you to increase your fish in pools and with things like talipia or catfish the population density doesnt bother them but the oxygen increase will likely lead to bigger fish and higher returns on your investment.

So youve covered most of your energy costs but what about vehicles? Well there is the route of Bio diesel from coconut oil or cooking oil. But one thing a lot of people havent looked at especially with farming is the fact that animals produce a lot of gas and the methane is ideal for cooking and can also be stored and used as a gas to run a vehicle. This is Gerry Barons whos bio digester can be found on :- http://www.biofuelswork.com/

The list is pretty lengthy on cutting your costs. Another one worth while is water preservation and drilling a deep well. It rains heavily in the Philippines and if you can reroute the water into butts it gives you water for washing your animals, possibly drinking water for them and also water you can use in your toilet cistern. Very simple project to do and if you think how much a toilet is used each day you can start to see it can save you money on an a monthly basis when your bill comes in. The next stage would be to drill a well at the moment its not viable for us to do it due to us being at the top of a hill. Although doesnt mean we wont! im currently looking at this project which also shows how to do the drilling aswell as providing all the components to do it yourself :- http://howtodrillawell.com/

With a deep well and adding a solar pump you can have a regular supply of water add a couple of water tanks and youve got a steady supply of water day or night costing nothing. Drinking water is always purchased seperately anyway but add a good purification system you could be supplying your neighbours too who would appreciate it more than you think.

I hope these ideas have given you a more informative view of what you can do to make your life sustainable aswell as how to reduce your costs. With the right setup you could be living on half the money you are currently spending easily. If you would like to offer advice to others or have carried out these projects yourself please let me know as its helping everyone as a community i care about more than anything. Any companies wanting to donate any equipment for trial are also very welcome.

The next topics im hoping to cover are livestock and growing your own vegetables and fruit.

Acquired:

1 Water Heater:                    $50

4 15 gallon carboy's             $125

Needed:

2 Steel Drums   ($0-50 each)

2 Plastic Drums ($0-20 each)

2 5gln Carboys ($6 each)

1 1/2 hp water pump ($35)

5 3/4" valves     $8/each

Misc. plumbing   $30

Steel angle iron for stands    $0-20

Kerosene Burner (optional) $80

Total outlay:  $600ish

Even buying everything with the optional carboys and burners!  The kerosene burner will let me heat/dry the biodiesel using biodiesel (less than .25 gallons per batch of 40 gallons) and the 15 gallon carboys will make sourcing the Waste Veggie Oil (WVO) much easier as they are sized to be able to be picked up.  

This set up will let me make a batch a week, or 2500 gallons annually which is 400% more than I need.  Pricing of methanol drives my final price, but it looks like final product will be about $1.50/gallon vs. $4.05.  Payback will occur at about 200 gallons, or 4 batches.  Nice.  I only use about 30 gallons a month so figure 6 months of time or, what, about a 100% APR on my investment not factoring time.  I'll take it.

After I have the process worked out so that I can make good fuel consistently, I would like to begin switching from methanol to ethanol as the catalyst.  Methanol is sourced from natural gas, and is much more toxic than ethanol.  In the end I would like to grow an oil crop like canola or sunflowers, press the oil out using a screw press and make BD out of the oil.   the left over seed cake can then be processed into ethanol, with the left overs there either feeding livestock or going into a methanol digester.  This system can work, though I am not aware of a setup that interconnects them in such an intergrated permaculture way.  So that is for 2009!

-Rob

Full Story Here

BioDiesel Manual Here

The Latest News From Jackson Press -

The Middle East Says "BEND OVER, HERE IT COMES AGAIN"!

Guess what? Gasoline prices have mysteriously spiked again! But you probably already knew that, unless you're in the minute minority driving around in a hybrid and only visiting the pumps once a month. Most of us aren't yet that wealthy or, possibly, wise.

Around here prices shot up over fifty cents a gallon in less than five days. They're now hovering at $4 a gallon. "Around here" would be central Ohio, a region marketed as "The Heart of It All", although these days that heart's in need of a triple bypass and a pace-maker. But I'm pretty sure this isn't a localized phenomena and I'm super sure I'm not the only one kicking themselves for not filling up yesterday when gas was only $3.79 a gallon.

So why have prices spiked this time?

Blame it on hurricane season. This time it was Hurricane Ike, another perfect opportunity to make a little (lot) more money. Speculation abounded and worries were up because Ike threatened to demolish refinery capacities in the Gulf, which would reduce supply and increase demand. Consider that a hard, real-life lesson in economics. Congratulations - you got an A. That'll be $5 a gallon, please!

Hurricanes are a great reason for gas price spikes, but the oil companies aren't picky. They'll use all kinds of weather as an excuse to raise gas prices - cold fronts, blizzards, warm fronts, tornados, rain, sun, snow, autumn, spring. Then there are the political reasons - war in the Middle East, war in Georgia, war in the U.S. Congress.

And now people seem to think that more U.S. drilling will bring gas prices down. Sure, if we could somehow drill just for gasoline and have it flow directly from drilling rig to the gas pump, ready for your SUV's cavernous gas tank. But that would only happen if we built our drill rigs right over top of gas stations. We're drilling for oil here, people, not gasoline.

You see, there's a refining process involved here, which turns all that hypothetical oil into even more hypothetical cheap gasoline. And these things take time, like cooking a good soup or making a batch of twenty-year-old scotch. And there's a process to all of this: first you've got to find the oil, then build the rigs, then begin pumping, then transport the oil ... all in all, it'd be two years before we saw that hypothetical gas reach our pumps. And that doesn't really help us turn the corner on Middle Eastern oil dependence, does it?

No, we need to focus more on self-sufficiency, people, using the resources we already have at hand. I'm talking about bio-diesel, people, the everyman's fuel! I'm talking home production and a diesel in every garage! For a couple hundred bucks worth of "still" parts and a steady supply of fast food grease, it's possible. It's not terribly practical - yet - and it's dirty and a lot of frickin' work, but, hey, it's still easier than drilling!

Think about it - for the price of many boxes of french fries and many, many extra pounds of body fat, plus the risk of higher cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes (you get the idea), you can be your own fuel producer. It's our first step to energy independence. Although we'll need a lot more McDonald's (and Burger King, Wendy's, Rally's, Jack In The Box, Sonic, etc), so I suppose we're really just trading Middle Eastern dependence for corporate fast food franchise dependence.

But it's the start to a better America! We don't really need to drill here - we just need to eat more greasy foods as we free ourselves from the Middle East and add another couple of inches to our collectively obese waistlines. So dig in, people!

No one better demonstrates the dirty side of the everyman better than Mike Rowe. Click here to see his bio-diesel episode.

Why does the garage smell like a White Castle? Welcome to Jackson's Gas!

People have come to us and say is hard to do what Agua-Luna does, but you don't have to do it all, neither change it all in a shot, start with little steps and learn from these examples:

"I feel very strongly that we could all be doing a bit more to help the environment. The world as a whole does not have infinite resources and we must make more of an effort to make people aware of this, especially youngsters.

People have come to us and say is hard to do what Agua-Luna does, but you don't have to do it all, neither change it all in a shot, start with little steps and learn from these examples:

"Hi, my name is Iris, and this is what me and my family are doing for the environment. First we live near our jobs therefore using the car less and less. We are using canvas bags to bring our groceries home. We are switching over to florescent light bulbs. Next I have taken T- shirts that no longer fit our children and are in great condition and have turn them into some cool pillow case, they are soft and a conversation piece. I have decided to turn a laundry canvas hampers into recycle bins. We are new at all this ,and we live in an apartment so this is a great challenge for us. Yet we are striving to make a difference. We try to only purchase organic fruits and veggies. We buy real butter instead of margarine, and are looking into which grocer sells meat that has no hormones or coloring of any sort. We would start a small box garden but our deck does not get sufficient sunlight. Like I said we are new at all this, and have only just started. Thanks for all your articles."

Thanks to IRIS N SHELDAHL

Try to put some reflectors around your garden box to get more sun on them if that is a reason you feel your plants aren't growing as they should. Hope that hepls.

The technology can use Algae to produce fuel and offers much better yield than anything else.

Market Garden

With stress levels high from overextending all year, we have put all fall market garden plans on hold.  As crops come down we are putting them in covercrop, and taking time off until I plant the hoop house to spinach and mache in 3 weeks.  I am trying a annual only cover crop on one plot to see how it preforms.  Thrown in are Wasaba Oats, Japanese Buckwheat, Oilseed Radish, and Yellow Field Peas.  The oats are for straw biomass, the buckwheat is for quick cover, the radish is pure experiment as I have never grown it and want to see it in action -hope is for decent below ground biomass, and the peas are for nitrogen.  All will kill at zero degrees to leave a nice mat of mulch for the spring crops.

Biodiesel

This is where my heart and mind are at right now.  Tons of time online researching this and a couple of books from Chelsea Green on the way as well.  After looking into most of the "turn key" systems out there -most of which run over $3000, I have decided on a processor that is based on the Appleseed Biodiesel Processor. The Appleseed is essentially an open source project of backyard handy men/women working together to find a workable and safe solution.  The design they have come up with is uber simple and can be made out of reused junk if need be (sounds like our gasifier!), but even sourcing everything new will cost under $5-700 for system that can easily do 2000+ gallons of biodiesel a year.    As my goal is to have one up and running by Halloween/Samhain, expect alot more posts on this in the coming months as my focus switches off of farming for the season.

Terra Preta

A year or so ago I was introduced to terra preta and it blew my mind.  As I got more interested in our gasifier project we realized we would have a ready source of biochar and could actually start to make terra preta nuevo here in Wisconsin.  When my brain is melted from reading about and designing biodiesel processors I am pouring over Cornell research papers on this subject. Again, look for more in depth posts on this.  Adding DEEP fertility while sequestering carbon from a system that can heat and power a building -count me in!

The End Goal is to build an "Energy Shed" that will house a gasifier whose waste heat and electricity are powering bio-diesel and ethanol processors, and the waste products from these operations will the heat and power a multi use greenhouse growing greens and veggies and housing tanks of Tilapia for protein that will be fed off the mash from the ethanol still.  Waste from the fish will then be turned back into the fields as fertilizer to complete the cycle.  Permaculture in action!  

This one may take years, but to quote Ghostbusters: "We have the tools... we have the talent"

Be the Change!

-Rob

Pretty boring photo?  Do you know what it is?

On Tuesday night Pete and I went to a Bio-diesel fuel making course and it was great - I was the youngest there and only female, it seemed to us that the majority of those taking part were farmers over 60.  There was a lot of information and we bought a book about it but I think it's something we will look into in the near future.  I want to get a bigger car - the Festiva  2 door is just so hard with 2 kids in car seats - and we were thinking something that runs on diesel so this may be a way to go for us - recycling  local  oil waste and  making cheaper fuel (they say between 30c-80c per litre).

Something to think about anyway...

“Since the rise in the price of crude oil, bio-fuel from jatropha would cut costs and leave an impact on the environment,” said Binay Krishna Patel, the divisional railway manager of Sambalpur division. 

Indian Railways is prioritising on bio fuel and the programme has started in the Sambalpur division, he added. 

For the first phase, 20,000 jatropha saplings have been planted at a vacant land at Kantabanjhi in Bolangir that belongs to the railway and the target is for 70,000 more saplings in the year 2008-09. 

The railway officials pointed out that emission of carbon-dioxide from jatropha fuel is also 78.5 per cent less than that of diesel.

Here I have one for you:  Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. (Also known as the O'Reilly effect)

And now we have Poly-Amorous, give me a break.

Listen to this summer's monster hit song, "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. It's an international phenomenon -- topping the charts all summer in America, Canada, Australia and Great Britain. I kissed a girl and I liked it, The taste of her cherry chapstick, I kissed a girl just to try it, I hope my boyfriend don't mind it. It felt so wrong, it felt so right. Now imagine that you hear that your 18-year-old daughter was kissing another girl at a party last weekend. What races through your mind?

"O my gosh, she's exploring same-sex attractions.

She must be a lesbian."

You remember the "Love Generation?"  We were that generation, the Baby Boomers who like to believe that we established and formed the definitions on the sexual revolution.  I always found that amusing, sexual revolution, I mean at the time, "I wasn't fighting anyone on it."

Now days we have the media and other groups telling us that being gay is pre-programmed from birth.  But girls kissing girls isn't necessary a lesbian attitude.  Salon.com recently ran a survey on it and most of the girls said that "they just kissed each other to get a free beer at a party or on a dare from the guys."

Taking it one step further, I suppose it is a way to signal to males that they are "sexually open and adventurous. It was like, look, I'm the center of attention!" recalled one 16-year-old.

When I was sixteen the only advice my parents gave me was to "never go drinking with a guy named Chug-A-Lug" I would not have been prepared for this at all.

Stoopid crooks:  During an escape attempt, an inmate at the county jail in St. Charles, Missouri, ran into the prison's parking garage and headed for an open door marked "fire exit."  Sensing that freedom was about to be his, he turned around and gave the approaching deputies a one-finger salute, and dashed thru the door ... running smack into the brick wall behind it.  Deputies took the unconscious man to a nearby hospital.

Home-made Exxon ... Brew your own  ... Impress your neighbors!

Fumes from chemicals used to make bio-diesel fuel reacted with cleaning fluid, caused an explosion early Sunday morning at an Arizona home. The homeowner told investigators he was making the alternative fuel in his garage as a way to save money, an up-and-coming trend that may lead to future catastrophes if not done correctly.

The most likely cause for the fire was spontaneous combustion that had resulted after heat was exchanged between a used rag and a cleaning solvent inside a plastic bucket.  That was aggravated when vapors from a drum of ethanol met with the rag, causing an explosion.  And of course, the brewing of chemicals by some guy who never had his science project done on time. We have basically the same problem here in Oklahoma every winter, when Okies try and lite up their gas heaters with kitchen matches.

One more and then I am outta here.  It has to be true ... I mean ... "I read it on the Internet!"

If you are the person who flushed a grenade down the ol' poop-shooter in Xenia, Ohio, the people that work at the sewage plant and I suppose, the local cops, want to talk to you.  Workers found what they believe was a vintage WWII grenade there recently.

A disposal unit from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base came to the plant to examine the grenade.  "They came over and looked at it, X-rayed it. It was probably World War II vintage," City spokesperson, Leaming said.  He said the X-ray revealed what looked like dirt inside, but they couldn't be sure there was no black powder left, so the crew detonated it on site, using explosives they had brought.

Xenia City Manager Jim Percival said the grenade came out of a machine used to vacuum the sewers.  "You get a little bit of everything there," Percival said. "Nothing that comes through the sewers would surprise me."  Read the entire Grenade Article by Staff Writer Jeremy P Kelly here.

Now when I was in the tenth grade we flushed some cherry bombs down the commode at the local high school, but this takes it to a whole new level. "If you are in the Dayton, Xenia area of Ohio, I would check the stool before I sit down."

000

In this kid's case, he bought a bus off of craigslist and outfitted it for biodiesel to take himself and his crew, various bands and other artists on a cross-country music tour. With a bit more planning, he probably could've spent less time running around at night in new cities for vegetable oil, but even still, he set an example for the bands he represented, the kids coming to his shows and for people like me reading the article in the Times. Not to mention, by simply mentioning and not overly emphasizing the biodiesel bus, the article kind of suggests that veggie oil cars are more accepted and less of a rogue idea; the concept is now another interesting description as opposed to a purpose or a movement. This change is important because it means "green" no longer has to be a fad---it can now simply be a choice.

VW Tuning

The MK IV cars (1999.5-2004) come into the world with 90hp/155lb ft torque.  They also make a routine of going 700+ miles on their 14.5 gallon tanks (45-48mpg).   They also come very well equipped 4 wheel disc brakes, side curtain air bags, and lots of luxury items in the GLS models.  The mileage is great, but I need a bit more power to tow my barrels.  Luckily the tuner community has lots of answers.

• Fuel Nozzles.  Upgrading these to "Euro" spec injectors nets 10-15hp and 20#'s of torque.  No loss of mileage if you keep out of the turbo
• "Chip" tuning will clean up the fuel map and bump the boost up a bit to 18.5psi max.  This get you another 10hp and real close to 200#/ft of torque.
• 2.5" Down Pipe and performance cat and remove the muffle (diesels are quiet) gets you a broader power band (turbo spools 300rpm's sooner), a handful of ponies/torque, but more importantly let the turbo breather better and lowers your Exhaust Gas Temps (EGT's) by several hundred degrees (reduces stress on engine components/oil).  This one is optional and will only get done if I see my EGTs going up on towing runs.
• There are many drivers with these mods in the "800 Club": 800 miles on one tank  That's 55mpg in  vehicle that can tow 2000#'s while seating 4 adults in 5star safety.  Nice.

Bio Diesel

I'm not going to go into all the ins and outs of making it here.  A staggering amount of info can be found on Journey to Forever's bio fuels pages which is where I have spent several hours this weekend as I huddled indoors to avoid the ragweed pollen until my allergy medicine could catch up.  I am convinced that we will be going Bio Diesel and not WVO at this point - our Subaru may very well get traded in for a '09 Sport Wagon Jetta, and one BD processor can handle multiple vehicles if it is sized right.  Progress so far:

• First contact at our local China Buffet -permission granted to salvage their grease!
• Spoke to my farmer friend and he is willing to donate space for a Processor-I am not willing to have 99.5% pure Lye and Sulfuric Acid within reach of the kiddos.   Our discussion grew into making an "Energy Shed" to house a gasifier, Bio Diesel Processor, and an Ethanol Still.  Huh.
• Emailed out to several Craigs listers with various Processor Bits for sale -mostly large drums, pumps, etc.  Looks like a 50 gallon sized still can be made for under $1000.  That is big enough for 2500 gallons a year or so.  That would be 112,000 TDI miles so there is room for 3-4 more in the project, or more likely I only run it once a month.

Time will tell where this goes.  I would be happy making 5-10 gallons weekly, but it seems that the effort is about the roughly same if you make 1 gallon or 40.  If I proceed, it will likely be with a 5 gallon mini processor to get the feel of it, and then maybe ramp up to a 50 gallon processor if it seems doable.  Price for BD home brew seems to be in the $1 range these days -driven mostly by the price of methanol which I still need to find a local supplier for.
Much of this was mulled over while harvesting (and selling!) my 900th pound of potatoes.  Still 3-500 pounds left!

-Rob

4 Months ago I was completed smitten with Plug In Priuses. Sure the $30k buy in ($20k + $10k conversion) was uber steep, but I had a plan to sell 160 rain barrels in the next two years to cover at least the cost of the conversion. Then oil hit $140+ and inflation crested 5%. That Prius became $35k as used hybrids appreciated and we struggled mightly to sell our first load of rain barrels as America (finally!) tighten her belt. We've sold most of the barrels, but just barely and selling another 100 is not likely since the majority went to one buyer.

But we still need a high mileage 4 seat car.  So 3 weeks ago I began to look very seriously for a used VW TDI.  There were never a ton of these on the road (thought the 2006+ are MUCH more common!) and they are also in demand.  Prices are ranging from 10-30% above Kelly's Blue Book -and most buyers are flying in to get them and driving them 3 states home.  I had 4 semi local cars slip through my fingers -even calling within an hour of the ad posting is not enough to get these.   Then just this week I found my new car. I had email Mia my "Dream Ad" and don't you know it, I came home from work to find a  new Ebay listing that matched it perfectly.  Its a 2000 Golf TDI GLS 5spd with about 110k miles on it.  I am as vain as the next guy so I wanted it loaded -moonroof, premium sound, and heated seats (these little diesels take like 20 miles to heat up in the winter) and I found it on Ebay.    4 doors, super clean, and I bought it for $4k less than I am selling my Insight for so the budget is uber happy.  Its in MN so I am bumming a ride with family on their return trip to South Dakota this weekend.

More on why I bought a TDI -this paragraph gets more than a little Car Guy.  Most guys driving them are getting 42-48mpg every single tank -and the hypermilers are getting 60mpg!  Second, they can be turned into nice little tow vehicles.  In Europe these engines have about 20 more hp -and the only part change is larger fuel injection nozzles-about $300.  You can also add a "chip" that remaps some of the boost parameters for the turbo and get another 10-15hp.  More importantly you can also get another 80 ft/lbs of torque making the Golf a better tow vehicle than our Forester.  Open up the exhaust with a bigger down pipe off the turbo and you can keep your Exhaust Gas Temps down too and add a few more ponies.  Here is the kicker -there are many guys with these mods still getting over 50mpg every single tank.  You only use the extra fuel and boost of the mods if you push the engine hard while accelerating/towing. Even still, I have yet to see anyone on the forums at TDI CLUB getting under 40mpg in a modded 5spd.   Nice.

Are hybrids more efficient?  You bet.  But they can't tow, cost over twice as much, and I can't make my own fuel in a pinch.  I am very happy with my decision and will likely start doing some home bio-diesel processing using Journey to Forever's 5 gallon "Test" kit this Fall.  Making 5 gallons a week actually would cut my Dino Fuel use 100 gallons anually over a standard Prius.  I have already found a source for grease, just need to build the kit. In my "spare" time.

Very sad to see my beloved Insight going away, but also excited for the future!

-Rob

In my last few posts I have been writing about the alternatives to fossil fuels mainly gasoline and diesel. We spend around $70 billion a year on buying fossil fuels from other countries. It is easy to say we need to find a way to stop that money drain. Even if we find a way to end our dependence on oil, it will take years to get everything in place and up and running. It is likely that I will not live long enough to see this happen.

I have talked about wind power and CNG (compressed natural gas); today we can talk about bio-diesel. There are several uses for bio fuels.

1.Vehicles for people

2.Heating

3.Railroads uses

4.Aircraft use

Bio-diesel use and production are increasing rapidly. Fueling stations make bio-diesel readily available to consumers across Europe, and increasingly in the USA and Canada. A growing number of transport fleets use it as an additive in their fuel. Bio-diesel is often more expensive to purchase than petroleum diesel. I think the price will even out as traditional diesel prices rise.

Europe has been expanding its infrastructure and the US and Canada are behind in this regard but the US is starting to make up ground. I first heard about bio-diesel fuel when some guy was on a news program and talked about using the fryer grease from McDonalds in his diesel VW. He said the environmental impact was better than standard diesel and his car exhaust smelled like French Fries. I can’t verify the smell part but nearly every article I read mentions the better environmental impact.

Blends of bio-diesel and conventional hydrocarbon-based diesel are products most commonly distributed for use in the retail diesel fuel marketplace. Much of the world uses a system known as the "B" factor to state the amount of bio-diesel in any fuel mix: fuel containing 20% bio-diesel is labeled B20, while pure bio-diesel is referred to as B100. It is common to see B99, since 1% petrol-diesel is sufficiently toxic to retard mold. Blends of 20 percent bio-diesel with 80 percent petroleum diesel (B20) can generally be used in unmodified diesel engines. Bio-diesel can also be used in its pure form (B100), but may require certain engine modifications to avoid maintenance and performance problems. Blending B100 with petrol-diesel may be accomplished by:

• Mixing in tanks at manufacturing point prior to delivery to tanker truck
• Splash mixing in the tanker truck (adding specific percentages of Bio-diesel and Petrol Diesel)
• In-line mixing, two components arrive at tanker truck simultaneously.

According to Wikipedia, bio-diesel is pretty old technology. Wiki says, “On 8/31/1937, G. Chavanne of the University of Brussels (Belgium) was granted a patent for a 'Procedure for the transformation of vegetable oils for their uses as fuels' (fr. 'Procédé de Transformation d’Huiles Végétales en Vue de Leur Utilisation comme Carburants') Belgian Patent 422,877. This patent described the alcoholysis (often referred to as transesterification) of vegetable oils using ethanol (and mentions methanol) in order to separate the fatty acids from the glycerol by replacing the glycerol with short linear alcohols. This appears to be the first account of the production of what is known as 'bio-diesel today.”

One of the major problems with using bio-diesel made with vegetable oil is that during cold weather the oil tends to gel. (Bio-diesel produced from tallow tends to gel at around +16 °C (61 °F) ) Heaters need to be installed to keep the oils up higher than the gel point. That changes with what the ratio of oil to diesel is. In my part of the world, it is easier to configure your vehicle when it is generally warm all the time. In Wisconsin it may be altogether a different set of issues. On the plus side, the engine is lubed better with bio-diesel than traditional diesel.

Bio-diesel for aircraft has been sketchy at best. Virgin Airlines did run a jet aircraft from London to Amsterdam in Feb of this year. So far as I know it, no American airline has run any experiments with bio fuel.

A railroad train in Eastern Washington will be running on a 25% bio-diesel 75% petrol-diesel blend during summer of 2008, purchasing fuel from a bio-diesel producer seated along the railroad tracks. The train will be powered by bio-diesel made in part from Washington-grown canola. I think this makes the most sense since the load per mile is the greater than over the road long haul truckers.

“Bio-diesel can also be used as a heating fuel in domestic and commercial boilers, sometimes known as bio-heat. Older furnaces may contain rubber parts that would be affected by bio-diesel's solvent properties, but can otherwise burn bio-diesel without any conversion required. Care must be taken at first, however, given that varnishes left behind by petrol-diesel will be released and can clog pipes- fuel filtering and prompt filter replacement is required. Another approach is to start using bio-diesel as blend, and decreasing the petroleum proportion over time can allow the varnishes to come off more gradually and be less likely to clog. Thanks to its strong solvent properties, however, the furnace is cleaned out and generally becomes more efficient.”

Well, this is just a brief outline of some of the uses for yet another one of the Alternatives to our dependence on foreign oil.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the info I stole writing this article.

Adios para ahora, mis amigos

Yo soy un demócrata amarillo del perro.

¡yo soy Horsedooty!