First Algae Car Attempts To Cross the US On 25 Gallons of Fuel 188
Mike writes "San Francisco recently saw the unveiling of the world's first algae fuel-powered vehicle, dubbed the Algaeus. The plug-in hybrid car, which is a Prius tricked out with a nickel metal hydride battery and a plug, runs on green crude from Sapphire Energy — no modifications to the gasoline engine necessary. The set-up is so effective, according to FUEL producer Rebecca Harrell, that the Algaeus can cross the US on approximately 25 gallons of fuel — a figure which is currently being tested on a coast-to-coast road trip."
Re:5% Algae? (Score:5, Interesting)
Silly to use a Prius (Score:1, Interesting)
And why did they choose a Prius? Do they plan to go across the USA on city streets?
Most folks would take a highway, where the electric motor and battery do not get used at all-- they're just useless weight.
What do they mean? (Score:3, Interesting)
They speak of 25 gallon to get from coast to coast. Coast to coast is about 3000 miles (google earth tells me).
A regular 25 gallons of diesel would get you to about 750 miles?
So i was thinking: yeah good deal!
Then further on in the article they say that only 5% of the fuel is algae fuel.
Then what do they mean with the 25 gallon thing? Is 25 gallon 5% of the entire fuel used to get from coast to coast? In that case, i guess you're far better off with running regular fuel
What did i miss?
Re:5% Algae? (Score:1, Interesting)
Is it a gas engine? Generally you use algae to produce diesel. They mention first producing jet fuel which is much closer to diesel. It's essentially kerosine. Given the mileage and the fact they are mixing in algae based biofuel I tend to think it's a diesel. The article didn't say one way over the other. I do find it suspicious that they are only using 5%. You could crank out more than 25 gallons in your garage depending on how you were extracting the oil from the algae. They may be having trouble producing high enough quality oil for fuel. Things like sunflowers produce high quality oil but I believe you only get around 5 gallons per acre so it's no replacement for oil. I wish they had more details and less side show hype.
Re:Fuel + Electric (Score:5, Interesting)
An algae farm could be located almost anywhere. It would not require converting cropland from food production to energy production. It could use sea water and could consume pollutants from sewage and power plants.
Has anybody suggested a nice oceanfront inland area with lots of rail and marine transport? One with storage and refinery capabilities? One that's already below sea level? Because I think there's a likely spot in Louisiana.
Re:MPG debate (Score:3, Interesting)
Which is why you should be looking at grams of CO2/km. You know how much energy the batteries can contain, you know how much energy the fuel tank can contain, making it very easy to do these calculation.
CO2 isn't the only interesting pollutant though, but that doesn't make it any more difficult to figure out.
Fill up entirely on solar or wind power, and your battery energy is pollutant free. And for those who then want to factor in the pollutants released in building those plants: You now have to factor in every single bit of fossil fuel used in building the platforms, moving the people there, feeding them, building the pipe lines, wars fought over fossil fuels, refining the fuel, writing legislation against conservation and so on and so forth.
5% is nothing. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:5% blend of algae fuel only... (Score:5, Interesting)
Diesel engines were DESIGNED to run on plant matter...
Peanut oil, to be precise.
And the inventor was murdered while crossing from France to the U.K...
So that the oil industry could use their dirty by product from petrol production, and re-name it 'diesel'. What we call 'diesel' nowadays is nothing of the sort.
"In the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel boarded the post office steamer Dresden in Antwerp on his way to a meeting of the Consolidated Diesel Manufacturing company in London. He took dinner on board the ship and then retired to his cabin at about 10 p.m., leaving word for him to be called the next morning at 6:15 a.m. He was never seen alive again. Ten days later, the crew of the Dutch boat "Coertsen" came upon the corpse of a man floating in the sea. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that they did not bring it aboard. Instead, the crew retrieved personal items (pill case, wallet, pocket knife, eyeglass case) from the clothing of the dead man, and returned the body to the sea. On the 13th of October these items were identified by Rudolf's son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father.
No one knows for sure how or why Diesel was lost overboard. Grosser (1978)[5] presents a credible case for suicide. There are conspiracy theories that suggest that various people's business interests may have provided motives for homicide. Evidence is limited for all explanations."
Re:5% is nothing. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:5% Algae? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm also a little ticked about it actually being only 5%...
but a little silver lining to look at is that 5% of the CO2 emittied from combusted fuel is a net-zero in regards to anthropogenic CO2 production.
----------------------
I just can't wait for JC Venter's (SGI) new $50/barrel algae setup to revolutionize energy in the next decade. We're all gonna wish our cars were turbo diesels when his plants start pumping out affordable diesel with net-zero carbon.
Re:Fuel + Electric (Score:3, Interesting)
Except it's not "free", energy is energy whether you get it from the gas in your tank or off the grid it still costs you. Of course you could put solar panels on your roof to charge your car but those also cost money.
Re:5% blend of algae fuel only... (Score:3, Interesting)
Diesel engines were original designed to run on biodiesel- its only a fact of history that the fossil industry discovered they could make a compatible fuel for cheaper.
Biodiesel mass production is no great technological challenge (the method is pretty simple compared to crude oil refining). Now demand is growing fast, supply is growing fast- 40% growth annually before the recession.
It should also be pointed out that diesel engines can be mechanically modified very easily to run on pure vegetable oil, without needing to convert it to biodiesel. Probably a more sensible option if you're designing an "algae oil car" from scratch, all things considered.
Fuel + Electric+ *CAPITAL* (Score:5, Interesting)
Everyone with all these wonderful plans to get the "Happy Motoring" era happy again with 100+ MPG vehicles is conveniently forgetting that it will take a HUGE amount of money to convert the VAST fleet of current BFACs (big f'ing American cars) to anything resembling a 100+ MPG fleet of vehicles.
This is money that we don't have. We have (you may recall) pissed away 3 trillion dollars on the PEW (permanent endles worthless war) so far and it's still at PEW status. We have bankrupted the middle-class on a bogus housing bubble to the point where half the houses built and sold in the past ten years are 'underwater'. We have maxed out our credit cards and destroyed the major banks to the point where they required two seperate 760 billion dollar 'bailouts' in a single year. We have no realistic health care system at a point where a 100 million people born between 1945 and 1970 are nearing retirement. Our totally corporately-owned corrupt government runs up a trillion dollars of deficit every fucking year. And the rest of the world is talking behind our backs about not continuing to buy our Ponzi Federal Reserve bonds.
Not only are we out of money, we are out of money with 100 million stupid and obese self-entitled citizens. And all this is happening when we face Peak Oil and global warming environmental transformation. And when the number of $1 a day people in the 'never-to-be-developing' world are increasing their population from 4 to 8 billion in 30 years.
There isn't going to be any great new 'Apollo' or 'Manhattan' project to deal with these problems. No one seems to realize this, ESPECIALLY here at Slashdot, but there is no more fucking money . Over the next ten years, critical systems for economic growth are continute to shut down, one by one. It's not going to be easy, or pretty, or fair. And as a member of the technological elite, it's going to really piss you off because you know that we could be doing so much, if only...
Start thinking like this and stop thinking about giant government projects and Mars Landing and all that other 20th century fantasy and you will be around to play with your grandchildren. And please don't mod me down to -1 because my rational discussions bum you out. If I bother you, reply here as to exactly why I'm wrong. Believe me, I do want to be wrong about all this. But I have this bad feeling...
Re:Fuel + Electric+ *CAPITAL* (Score:3, Interesting)
>>>We have no realistic health care system at a point where a 100 million people born between 1945 and 1970 are nearing retirement.
What are you talking about? We have Medicare and Medicaid for these retirees so they will be covered by the government. We also have SCHIP for the children. In total there are only 8 million citizens without either private or government health insurancee. (Note I said citizens.) I wish people would stop exaggerating the health problem. It needs tweaking but it's not that bad overall.
>>>the rest of the world is talking behind our backs about not continuing to buy our Ponzi Federal Reserve bonds.
Now THIS is a serious problem. I've actually considered investing my wealth in Chinese stock since they have a manufacturing industry, and carry no debt. I'm thinking my wealth is safer in Chinese Index Fund rather than an S&P500 fund.
Re:Nope, that's not how it works. (Score:4, Interesting)
Nonsense. We are discussing a cross-country trip on highways, not 30MPH backstreets. A Prius can neither go 55 on electric only, not go cross-country on electric. On any significant trip, the electrics are doing nothing for you but weighing you down.
Wow - you're smart! That's some good thinking there. I'll dash right out and gut my Prius of those gigantic useless batteries and electric motor that never gets used. Just think of how much better it'll work without all that heavy stuff that teams of professional automotive engineers designed in! Thank God I found someone on the internet who is smarter than everyone at Toyota.
These are truly magic times we live in. I thank you for your wisdom.