|
Browse by Tags
All Tags » Alternative Energy » Biodiesel ( RSS)
-
|
Reader Nik writes us about an adventure of sorts he's planning to undertake: He and an associate will be driving across the country, non-stop from Manhattan to LA on one tank of BioWillie biodiesel. BioWillie, in case you aren't aware, is Willie Nelson's premium brand of biofuel. The trip is intended to raise awareness of the product and promote the benefits of biodiesel over more buzz-generating alternatives like hybrids. They intend to set off September 22 in a 2006 Jetta TDI equipped with a secondary high-capacity fuel tank filled to the brim with BioWillie. Jalopnik Snap Judgment : What. The. Hell. This email hits us and we damn near lose our minds with all the crazy angles it has. BioWillie? That sounds like the title of the worst sci-fi porno you've ever seen. And this "traveling across the country in a Jetta powered with Willie Nelson-branded biofuel" — read that sentence again — its like a spoof of a spoof of a spoof. If we didn't know better...
|
-
|
One of the more interesting but overlooked facts from the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was that the Audi R10 TDI cars not only ran, but won, on a mixture of Shell V-Power Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) racing diesel and a newly designed Biomass-to-Diesel (BTL) fuel. We've been fascinated with prospects of biomass diesel since taking a trip to the Sears Tower in the algae van , as BTL offers cleaner output, has no fossil-fuel base and doesn't interfere with the food chain. The version used in the race cars was also 90% cleaner than American low-sulfur diesel. We talked with Audi of America's Christian Bokich about his experience at Le Mans with the winning diesel team. galleryPost('08lemansaudi', 6, 'Audis Galore At Le Mans'); galleryPost('audir10lm08', 6, 'Audi R10 TDI Running At Le Mans'); Why biodiesel in a racing car? Christian Bokich: We're racing to show people what's coming in our future cars, and to show that we're leaders in diesel. It has...
|
-
|
It was when the oil light came on that I started to run through the appropriate next steps in my head...and realized that there aren't any appropriate next steps when warning lights start going off in a 1982 VW Vanagon camper. Particularly one converted to run on a mixture of vegetable oil and algae biodiesel grown and refined by a group of Chicago high school students. As the Sears Tower , our goal, loomed in the distance, a question loomed in my mind: Was our shared belief in the future of petroleum alternatives and, more importantly, in the fuel processing abilities of public school students and their teachers, strong enough to convince us to push further into the knot of congestion forming around the city? galleryPost('algaevan', 6, 'The Algae Powered Westfalia Camper'); The Idea David Levine, a second-year teacher placed in Chicago through the Teach For America program, faced a common problem: how to get students to take the same interest in their studies as in...
|
-
|
Looking at the array of biodiesel hybrids, ethanol hydrogen hybrids and fuel cells on display in Central Park this morning, the impression we got was GM is looking to these technologies as the future. All we could think was how much they should be the present. You see, this wasn't a display of pie-in-the-sky concepts or prototypes, but actual vehicles capable of competently carrying humans and all of them designed and built by students on a limited budget. If a couple of pubescent geeks still waiting for their first pocket protectors can put a functioning biodiesel hybrid on a driveway, why isn't GM doing so right now? galleryPost('challengex', 6, 'University of Waterloo Fuel Cell'); We've heard all the arguments before: lack of infrastructure, high development costs, unproven technology, bad leadership; but here are vehicles which, as we speak, are being driven to Washington DC in climate-controlled comfort by their student creators Yes, GM is developing the...
|
-
|
With Valentine's Day creeping up on us, Russel Stover of eat-my-f'ing-chocolates fame should look into getting into the automotive industry by teaming up with Andy Pag and John Grimshaw, two blokes who recently drove a modified 1989 Ford Iveco Cargo from the United Kingdom to Timbuktu, all on biodiesel created from... chocolate. Mmmm... Timbuktu is in West Africa, by the way. Some info for those (like myself) who had no idea prior. The mission was more than just showing off the chocolate truck—the pair delivered a biodiesel processing unit to a charity in Timbuktu to allow the locals to create their own biodiesel from sustainable resources. The journey took the pair a month to complete. All equipment created and used was salvaged from scrap yards; the inventive duo will be leaving the chocolate truck in Timbuktu. This made me think of chocolate bunnies, those hollow Easter treats that we all love to decapitate. How about a real chocolate truck, confected along the same lines...
|
-
|
Take one racing -tuned Ford Mustang , add a dollop of environmentally sensitive pretense and what do you get? If you said Steve McGreen , give yourself a slap. If you said the BioConcept Mustang GT RTD you were obviously looking over our shoulder. Ford...
|
|
|
|