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SpitfireTriple
Bath,
United Kingdom
Posts: 346
Daytona 900 (93-96)
30 Apr 2008 10:45 |
Cider power!
http://www.motorcycledail.....ntingthorpe.htm
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Strumpet
Chippenham UK,
United Kingdom
Posts: 249
Enthusiast
30 Apr 2008 12:08 |
Just finished reading the article in this month's Bike mag.
Not so much cider as triple distilled apple hooch... 85% by volume.
6000 apples and 4 months work to produce half a gallon of fuel... must make it a bit more expensive than petrol.
It would be interesting to know how much energy they used in making it... distillation must require quite a bit of heat input.
AND if you actually made it yourself, the gov. would still expect you to pay duty on it... (although I suspect I'd disappoint them)
Think I'll just buy an old diesel enfield and run it on waste oil from the chippy.
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Ash (BlackBlade)
Skating Away...,
New Caledonia
Posts: 10,926
Premier Member
Speed Triple (05->)
30 Apr 2008 21:25 |
It's the ridiculous reason that food prices are shooting up.....biofuel
It wont work, it's economically unviable
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Mr. Pinko
Austin,
USA
Posts: 961
TT600 (00-01)
30 Apr 2008 21:52 |
well now if we used hemp to make our biofuel it would be viable...... stupid to make it from out own food supply.
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Dom
Long Island, NY,
USA
Posts: 32
Speed Triple 955i (99-01)
04 May 2008 01:40 |
[edited]:
stupid to make it from our own food supply.... right on mate, very stupid. Yet all the US prez candidates are on it like white on rice. It's renewable and domestically produced...blah blah, but it sure aint free or even cheap. Doesn't anyone calculate how much gas, diesel and electricity goes into the production of the so-called "alternative fuels"?
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SpitfireTriple
Bath,
United Kingdom
Posts: 346
Daytona 900 (93-96)
06 May 2008 09:51 |
pork barrel politics
A cynic might ask whether there is a connection between would-be american presidents backing domestic bio-fuels and campaign contributions from the US agriculture industry.
Personally, I think investment in bio-fuel research is a good thing. But I understand it's much easier and cheaper to turn sugar into fuel than corn into fuel. Unfortunately the American climate isn't suited for growing sugar. Nevertheless, America would be better off using the money it spends on subsidising corn to pay for importing sugar
But of course that would mean bye-bye to presidential campaign contributions from the US corn industry.
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gene gard
omaha,
USA
Posts: 77
Speed Triple (05->)
06 May 2008 15:04 |
Here in the U.S. we give the farmer money NOT to plant crops then we let him depreciate the machinery he is not using. Bio fuels can be made out of a number of different substances, sugar beets, corn, soy beans, peanuts, apples. Buy a barrel of crude and see what it takes to turn it into a gallon of gas! For the U.S. the solution is more and better mass transit, LIKE A FREAKING DECENT TRAIN SYSTEM!!!! Less commuting to work, and higher economy vehicles. Such as motorcycles and scooters. I am guessing if american farmer only planted 25% of their fields because they couldn't affort the fuel to plant more the price of crude would come down significantly. I can skateboard to work, can the middle east eat their oil? Not to mention that the oil companies have been posting record profits for several years. For the most part there are solutions to this situation, it is just a matter of are the people willing to make the sacrifice.
I am actually glad to see this kind of article, after all it was a Triumph that was used to make a difference.
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Aron Anders
Butte, Mt,
USA
Posts: 20
Daytona T595 (97-98)
06 May 2008 15:34 |
Corn is a very poor choice to make ethanol out of. I think there is a real oportunity to use waste and excess biomass (such as tree trimmings and corn stalks for making biofuel). Corn takes a lot more fertilizer to grow than most other crops. The nitrogen fertilizer is made from natural gas.
The corn alchohol was all political and some people are making a lot of money on it while we are all paying higher food prices.
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Skippy
Dunfermline,
United Kingdom
Posts: 1,786
Premier Member
Daytona T595 (97-98)
07 May 2008 12:25 |
Not to mention the effect it has on the food supply for the local population.
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Blue
Melb,
Australia
Posts: 401
Speed Triple 955i (99-01)
08 May 2008 14:30 |
Saw a programme on National Geographic or something similar about how oil is not running out but its just getting harder to get at. Middle east has the easiest kind of oil to refine.... as it can pumped out of the ground directly but there's heaps more in ... I think they mentioned Canada... where the oil is mixed with sand and with a few more years of research they will be able to get the costs of refining such oil down.
Not holding my breath though. Fuel will NEVER EVER be cheaper again... no matter where it comes from.
Governments can't do anything about it. Oil is a business..... we have no other options .... just pay what they ask or use your BMX for kicks.
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Mr. Pinko
Austin,
USA
Posts: 961
TT600 (00-01)
08 May 2008 23:31 |
there is more oil under the southwestern US then the whole middle east. Its just in shale which makes things difficult.
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Blizzard
Coventry,
United Kingdom
Posts: 22,749
Premier Member
Daytona 955i (04->)
08 May 2008 23:33 |
Once the price gets high enough it will become economically viable the will start to dig it up
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