Bush digs diesel
 

President Bush mentioned twice this week (once in an address to the SBA, another in his televised prime-time press conference) the possibility of a migration to Diesel fuel and other "alternative fuels" as a way to reduce our dependance on foreign oil.


I believe he actually said Bio-Diesel, which is fine. A while ago I suggested to a friend of mine that instead of paying our nation's corn farmers to NOT grow corn, we should be paying them to grow fuel.


Here's that email from 20 September 2004:

I was watching this show on the History Channel about two weeks ago about old cutting-edge car technology. One was the Chrystler Turbine, a turboshaft-powered car. It was a great car that ran on just about any fuel you could put into it, and the one major moving part (the turbine) made the mechanism simple and reliable. BUT, being all turbo, the turbo-lag found in all turbo-enhanced cars applied to this one in a big way, so it was sluggish getting off the line.

Today, better battery technology makes electric and hybrid cars a reality. The gasoline engine is used in hybrids today, with diesels coming in the near term. Hmmmm, why not attach a turboshaft engine to a generator and to the transmission, and use electric motor torque to boost the low end... or, just use electric motor torque through the power range of the car, and use the turboshaft as a power source.

The turboshaft in the Chrystler would run on anything. They allegedly ran it on very expensive whiskey one time, much to the chagrin of the mechanics looking on. It will also run on petroleum and non-petroleum fuels like gasoline, diesel fuel, and even soy and corn oil.

Hmmmmm, don't we pay our American farmers to NOT grow corn? How funny would it be if our American Heartland were to turn into a vast renewable energy source?


I'm not saying I thought of anything here. I was musing outloud in that case. It makes sense, though, and as a previous Diesel car driver myself (VW Jetta TDI), I only have positive things to say about the performance and mileage. Having driven gasoline-fueled moving truck when I relocated to AZ, I know that Diesel gets better mileage and delivers more power than gasoline does, and I would have rented a Diesel truck had I known what I know now.


The downside, of course, is that lines at truckstops will start filling with Diesel SUVs.

i think diesel is a better fuel (now) myself, but as for bush... he is also turning in favor of liquid coal BOOOOOOOOOO! *thumbs down*

All texans love diesel...........


/me runs and hides

I dont think thats accurate, from what I understand turbine engines are'nt 'sluggish' off the line, they're slow to respond to any change in fuel... You press the pedal, and you're gonna be waiting a second or two for it to start producing power.

I could be wrong tho.

The army made it work for the Abrams tank, but from what I understand that has two settings, off and on, it uses the same amount of fuel wether at top speed or just 'idling'.


Diesel is really popular out here in Montana for multiple reasons and my next veichle will most likely be a diesel.

The bio-diesel producing algae looks really promising, especially since they will still work in salinated water. How hard would it be to pump salt water out to some huge vats in the desert?

They're also building a Coal to gas plant somewhere around Roundup Montana. This will turn coal into Diesel fuel, and the C02 by-products will be stored underground. This looks really promising to me.