Re: World energy system should be based on alcohol

From: The Ghost In The Machine (ewill_at_sirius.athghost7038suus.net)
Date: 11/02/04 

Date: Tue, 02 Nov 2004 16:01:04 GMT

In sci.physics, jmfbahciv@aol.com
<jmfbahciv@aol.com>
 wrote
on Tue, 02 Nov 04 11:23:36 GMT
<4oCdncB_J5316BrcRVn-3Q@rcn.net>:
> In article <MPG.1beffe07a29b8cfd989680@news.individual.net>,
> quibbler <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>In article <2umtc7F2cvqi4U1@uni-berlin.de>, nowhere@nowhere.net says...
>>>
>>>
>>> habshi wrote:
>>>
>>> > Hydrogen is just too messy and dangerous and takes up too much
> space.
>>> > We need a liquid based system . Alcohol can be used in most engines
> without modification and is 80%
>>> > as efficient as oil.
>>> > So wind energy , biomass etc. can easily be converted to it . Use
> the electricity to split
>>> > water and react the hydrogen wih carbon dioxide extracted from air to
> make methanol and convert this
>>> > to ethanol . This can then be transported by tankers from Antarctica
> etc.
>>>
>>> Why not use the generated electricity directly?
>>
>>How are we supposed to do that with a car? It would take a really long
>>extension cord :)))))
>
> Staying in the spirit of Habshi's thinking, hire gerbils
> that need exercise.

Would they need pens and SS cards, or would pawprints be acceptable?
Also, would the payroll taxes be different for gerbils than humans?

And then there's the issue of what they eat. I've wondered whether
it would be cheaper to feed everyone pasta and then put them in
busses somewhat a la The Flintstones, only with gears and chains
rather than their feet directly on the pavement, than extracting
that sticky black stuff. (The answer is probably: use a diesel bus,
at least until oil gets to $200/bbl or so. I'd have to look.)

>
> /BAH
>
> Subtract a hundred and four for e-mail. 

-- 
#191, ewill3@earthlink.net
It's still legal to go .sigless.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: World energy system should be based on alcohol
    ... > the electricity to split ... > make methanol and convert this ... would the payroll taxes be different for gerbils than humans? ... And then there's the issue of what they eat. ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Electrification: Bad Idea?
    ... Top Gear, earlier this year, featured an electric car running on fuel ... Methanol can be made efficiently from any carbon-containing feedstock: the feed is converted to carbon monoxide and hydrogen by controlled reaction with steam and/or oxygen, and the resulting gas mixture is reacted at high pressure over a catalyst to make methanol. ... The underlying scientific reason for these economics is thermodynamic: the electricity you use to create hydrogen is of a higher usefulness per energy unit than the chemical energy that can be obtained by burning the hydrogen. ...
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    ... CO2, using low temperature waste heat (and if necessary ... I found this: it doesn't seem that producing methanol ... in electricity produced), and pressures, about 20 atm, the conversion ... can convert the metahnol to gasoline with only 10% efficiency loss. ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: "The Only Thing They Learn" -- does anyone else find it irritating?
    ... Even assuming the water and air and electricity are available in ... If producing, say, methanol, is made ... have nearly the capital tied up as an oil drilling and refining operation ...
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