ZekiDolius

ReginaHedgehog

ReginaHedgehog

irishflyer97

I once visited a warehouse that used the same electric forklifts 24/7. Every 8 hours they pulled into a battery room and swapped batteries. It would require designing a battery pack that would be quickly removable and replaceable but hey, forklifts and other electric powered devices have been doing it for years.

That plus nuclear energy in addition to the other sources of alternative electric energy generation are truly the only ways we are ever going to get beyond our reliance on foreign oil.

Then for diesel, lets process it from shale of which the US has in abundance. Let the Saudis, etal, drown in their oil.

We absolutely cannot continue to deplete our food supply in a futile attempt to make energy. It is not cost effective and just how many more of the 6.5 billion people are going to starve in the process.

alsrag

VENAT0R

Using corn isn't cost effective though because people and cattle already use it and making cars use it too is only going to increase the cost. If this grass clippings idea has any usefulness I'd much prefer that over corn. Corn is for eating.

VENAT0R

You should do a little reading on that. The waste isn't as big a deal as people think it is. A majority of the rod can be re-used and the remainder can be converted back into fuel as well.

It isn't cheap, of course, but it is being done.

shawn_dude

It's "energy positive" after the break-even point. (or, depending on how you choose to measure it, it is actually energy positive after it has created as much energy as it took to build it which happens prior to break-even for the consumer.)

Just be sure to measure break-even on miles traveled per dollar rather than gallons per dollar.

If I owned a winery, these might make sense. But in the middle of urbania it's a waste.

shawn_dude

fe900571

Solar, wind, water, and geothermal are great, but trading greenhouse gases for radioactive waste that lasts for thousands of years just doesn't seem like a worthwhile switch IMO...

ideaman2020

what we need is nuclear power for electricity and advanced solar collection for charging battery banks that in turn charge your small electric commuter car. And if for some reason the sun aint shining you pay to charge your car off your nuclear powered grid. Electric cars are pretty much how things have to go.

Larger commercial trucks should still use diesel though

pevans34

DemolitionMan

If they made these things so that you can use grass clipping, in addition to any other organic matter, BUT made it solar powered - it wouldn't pollute at all and cost almost nothing to run.

I'll take one, ...and my flying car while I'm here wishing.

loogee

That's the beauty of it! Just hook the electrical inputs to an ethanol-powered generator and BANGZOOM!!

Free power forever!

ideaman2020

The only difference between their machine and a still is the purification. They claim 100% ethanol (which I find hard to believe as anhydrous ethanol hard to produce even on an industrial scale). The max is 95.6% with a still. From other reports, I understand they use a membrane filter (similar to reverse osmosis) to make the ethanol even purer. So really I would paying $9600 for a membrane filter. Sounds interesting until they shoot themselves in the foot by saying that cars will happily run on 75% ethanol. That makes that extra membrane filter rather redundant.

There seems to be a mad rush to biofuels. While this is good, alot of projects seem to be moving to making biofuel from food sources. This is one of them. While the problem isn't as bad as some of the oil-funded think tanks make out, it is a serious issue and I do not agree with any project making fuel from food.

When they make a $10k machine that makes ethanol from my lawn clippings, I'll be the first in line. Until then I'm happy with my homebrew vodka. ;)

nimblesquirrel

The real trick, though, is a way to quickly replenish power when away from home. Maybe some sort of battery replacement strategy (like they use for propane tanks) where you could swap your depleted packs for fully charged ones at filling stations?

It will be interesting to see what the first option for truly cheaper fuel will be.

TheTooth

nutbastard

without their sugar

Wilson Rotman

TheTooth

TheTooth

nutbastard

Make one that eats garbage (ie plastic wrap) and we'll talk.

liveinvt

"In fact, creator Floyd Butterfield says the water by-product is clean enough to drink."

So as long as you use refined sugar and not raw plant material, I see no real disposal issues here.

It should be noted that some (mostly older) vehicles have seals and gaskets that are antagonized by ethanol.

nutbastard

Wilson Rotman

gimpols1908

Rabid Penguin

"...alcohol releases as much or more carbon dioxide than its gasoline counterpart (though this carbon dioxide has previously been drawn from the air in biologically-produced ethanol, so if any petroleum burned to produce the ethanol is ignored, there is no net modern release, as there is for fossil fuels)."

nutbastard

TheTooth

nutbastard

TheTooth

Point: how much electricity will this thing consume to produce ethanol?

In the broad scope, we again affirm: there are no panaceas when it comes to energy. Pay now, or pay later.

DSLPWR

The difference between AppleJack and Apple Brandy is because cold distilling removes the water and a little flavor, leaving the alcohol and most of the flavor. Hot distilling removes the alcohol and a little flavor, leaving the water with most of the flavor. Personally, I'd rather have the flavor with my alcohol, so give me AppleJack anyday.

Yep, I'm a total dork.

dphagan

plastikwaren

Please tell me this is a cut-n-paste error of some sort. Are they really trying to imply that an internal combustion engine will run on 25% water?

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system

However, if you buy 'raw' and 'unfit for consumption' sugar, then you save a bunch of money.

dragonphyre

Inedible or not, you won't find sugar for the $.20 a lb that this thing requires to make sense.

And if you magically do, a person will have to dump a 50 lb bag into this thing every day of the week to hit that 34 gallon mark.

If ethanol doesn't make economic sense when made in quantity, how will it ever make sense in tiny batches?

badco/LoJ

Gann

notacrime

nutbastard

That thing will pay for itself in no time!

AndyDuncan

"Fill 'er up! And I'll also take two jugs of your best ripple!"

Cobolman2

P.S. Nice job on the Explains piece.

Benny Goldman

SigmundTheSeaMonster

TheTooth

This .10/gallon will be necessary on top of the sugar/yeast material costs for any ethanol made that doesn't originate from alcohol originally as well as from pre-existing alcohol.

TheTooth

I'd call it a biological reaction. Yeast isn't an ingredient here, it's the agent.

-AP-

radicalad

kahri

Purchasing this unit makes no sense financially. It would take years for it to pay for itself.

bms

And if you're NOT using refined sugar but instead raw materials like say, sugar cane, there's the issue of cost with transporting it and later disposing of it.

nutbastard

"The cost for processing discarded liquor can run as low as $0.10 per gallon of ethanol produced. A typical bar or restaurant discards thousands of gallons of alcohol annually! Beer and wine beverages can yield between 5 to 20 percent ethanol and distilled drinks upwards of 40% ethanol for liquor. Even greater benefit may be seen by wineries, breweries and distilled spirits refineries where it is not uncommon to discard over a million gallons of alcohol per year."

Atticka

Benny Goldman

The idea of using corn cobs and grass clipping (a la Coskata), seems to me, like the only non-damaging option once the factories can reach a point of sustaining themselves with their own product...

om nom de plume

TheTooth

"It will take between 10lbs to 14lbs of sugar to produce 1 gallon of ethanol."

Add to that the cost of the yeast and you'll be around the cost of gas anyway... and ethanol doesn't run as efficiently as gasoline, so you'll burn more of it for the same power.

TheTooth

Even though early cars used ethanol, it provides less energy per volume than gasoline. Also, ethanol absorbs water easily, ruining it for use in a car engine. Gasoline doesn't have this problem, making it a more ideal fuel for cars (pollution and geopolitical concerns aside).

AtomikB

"ethanol that can run my car from sugar?! Sign me up. I believe this might actually be the right direction... FINALLY."

hint: check the price of sugar.

nutbastard

TheTooth

TheTooth

$5k and you've got a deal.

nutbastard

Wilson Rotman

MrBlahBlah

weatherman

N@tedog

bosskev

elephantattack

jarque

Mark Arnold

vadubgeek

Charles_Barrett - Now with Variable-Valve Timing

I'm gonna have to go with DUI.

ideaman2020

But I'm totally distracted by Ashton Kutcher on the home page.

Kraftwerker

Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E

"the home-based ethanol production system that makes gas from sugar or stale beer"

Just like me!!

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog