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Page added on August 16, 2011
Weirdest Alternative Fuels
From human waste to rabbits to … love handles, there’s no doubt scientists are exploring a wide, weird range of sources to fuel our energy demands.
President Obama has most recently announced new fuel standards for trucks, and energy sources ranging from coal to oil to nuclear have been under scrutiny.
New sources of fuel are being explored, and some are pretty weird. French farmers recently told Reuters they’ve found a way to run vehicles on duck fat, inspring us to look at a few other alternative fuels.
Does “the weirder the better” apply when it comes to alternative fuels?
In 2007, Sweden seized 185,000 gallons of alcohol, heated and converted it into biogas, and used it to power buses, trucks and a biogas train.
According to the Associated Press, customs spokeswoman Ingrid Jerlebrink said, “We used to just pour it down the drain, but because of the increased volumes we had to look around for new solutions.”
A team from the Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Center said it had built a Formula 3 car which ran not just on chocolate, but also featured car components made out of carrots, potato starch and flax fiber.
Leader James Meredith said his goal was “to show what is possible. People love motor racing, and the trick is to do it in a more environmentally responsible manner. A racing car doesn’t have to harm the planet.”
The Dordogne-based farmers collect the duck fat from nearby restaurants and culinary businesses every two weeks. Other animal fat from pigs and cattle are added to the duck-like soup, which is then mixed in a 30 to 70 percent ratio with diesel.
The jury is out on the ethics behind using animals for energy.
But now, a Japanese firm might have come up with a solution by developing a new machine that converts adult diapers into biofuel.
It takes only one day for this machine to process the diapers into compressed form, which can then be used in biomass gasifiers to generate energy, reports CNET.
In January 2010, Novozymes and Fiberight unveiled the world’s first car to run on paper waste.
The way it works is simple: After a sequence of pulping, pre-treatment and wash, enzymes turn the paper and cardboard waste into sugars that are then fermented into biofuel, reports Green Car Congress.
Animal rights groups expressed outrage over mincing rabbits for fuel.
A total of one hundred thousand tons of raw animal material can generate enough heat for 11,000 homes a year.
2 Comments on "Weirdest Alternative Fuels"
DC on Tue, 16th Aug 2011 4:05 am
What about hooking up a hose to your national or regional capital? If your an amerikan, the US senate would be the ultimate energy source. The BS produced inside is highly concentrated, exists in un-limited amounts, and the only problem is it lies in a politically unstable and unfriendly region hostile to world peace, but all it would take to secure this bio-bullshit is a small military operation, call it, operation Enduring Gridlock, or something.
Once a hose has been attached to the US congress and senate, it could piped to a nearby facility to condese and liquify all the BS and hot air to make it easier to store and transport. Energy crisis averted!
Hey that lipo-diesel story was weird, do you suppose a wounded, overworked police detective grabbed his Lt. and said, “Youve got to stop them, the next thing you know theyll be breeding us fatties like cattle to feed their Ford Expeditions. You got to tell them, Lipo-Diesel is peeeeeople…
Coulda happend…
James on Wed, 17th Aug 2011 2:24 am
After we start ramping up the use of all these fat sources, we will have Peak Fat. Our society can’t begin to make enough fuel to power everything we currently power with Crude Oil. Something has to give and that will be the use of personal transportation. and trucks over long distances.