On Friday, May 14, 2004, at 12:36 PM, Bruce Colley wrote:
> Ed- > Some comments: >> Also, it would be very good to see this undertaken as someone's >> academic work, and to see more testing done in an updated way via >> funded research here in Canada and the USA, as well as elsewhere in >> the >> world. > > I see incredible enthusiasm and interest in the entire area of > sustainable fuels from students, and someone could perform a huge > service for this cause by introducing students at all levels to the > possibilities of studying the chemistry, physics, agriculture, > biology, social, economic, political and business aspects and > implications of sustainable fuels. I certainly agree with that! (I also do some part-time instructing at a university here, so get to hear from students about this quite a lot - and yes, I think it is time we had more programs focusing on renewable energy and the issues surrounding it. I've started making inquiries about this to see if a program might be started here at one of our provincial universities) > >> For long term, large scale use (and I've just been >> having a very good discussion with Michael Briggs at the University of >> Vermont about this, do you know him?) then there are all sorts of >> production models and issues to discuss - a very large topic. > > I don't know Michael Briggs, but would like to know of his work. > Maybe you could encourage him to participate in this forum. He may be on the list, but I will forward that to him. > >> (SVO powered generator project) >> Yes, also very much of interest to me, and mentioned earlier to me - >> how is that going? >> Absolutely. SNIP ENDSNIP >> For the hybrid EV, the three phase output is rectified and then used >> to drive a DC motor and/or charge the batteries. I would like to >> first develop a vehicle around this which could demonstrate the >> feasibility of economical (>100 miles/gal), low emissions, >> sustainably fueled personal transportation. (If you connect to: > http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_future.html > and then scroll down to Leading the way: Volkswagen 1-liter Concept, > you will see that they are using a one cylinder diesel engine in a > vehicle that they claim is achieving over 200 mpg (and it isn't even a > hybrid!)). Yes, I have seen that and shown a copy of the article about it at shows - to let people here know just how much can be accomplished with the technologies we already have, if we choose to do so. > Another interesting application of the generator is for farm > equipment. It would seem obviously compelling to offer farmers the > choice of using oil that they can produce (or which is produced > through a co-op) in machinery that they use to produce the oil > producing crops (or other crops for that matter.) Frankly, I don't > know how much farm equipment is already diesel powered, and if it > would therefore be economically sensible to convert such equipment to > diesel electric hybrid, or else to just convert it to run on SVO or to > use biodiesel. The majority of farm and marine applications are diesel. I think there's a lot of scope for greater use of biodiesel, SVO and DEH (diesel electric hybrid) on farms, in mobile equipment and in generators, etc. We just did some work with the people at Gaviotas, via a group from Boulder Biodiesel Co-op. They were down there helping get the biodiesel stuff going, and contacted me about a kit for a tractor. They got it installed just before leaving from their visit there. Wonderful stuff happening in India, too, like the Honge oil projects and the Indian railway projects. And, Dr. Peder Jensen's study of SVO for use in the European Union really highlighted what a good fit it all is for a closed loop system within agriculture. Also, the camelina Sativa project with the peas, that I mentioned, was a good demo of how you can grow an energy crop and a field crop together and get multiple benefits, and for the energy portion in that case it was found that the oil they got equalled the energy used to produce the crop, and no petroleum-based pesticides/carriers, so greater energy independence and sustainability. > If it is predominantly gasoline powered, then this could be > interesting, and possibly a simpler initial undertaking than the > hybrid EV. Mostly diesel already (farmers have to be fuel-efficient!!), so biodiesel and SVO first, and DEH later, maybe. > I have interest in this from someone raising Jatropha in Mexico. (He > informs me that mechanical harvesting of Jatropha seeds is very > advantageous.) As you know, even one demonstration project of this > nature can garner beaucoup publicity and raise awareness and > consciousness on a wide scale. Sure! > >> Say, will you be able to make it to the SVO event at SolWest? > > Sounds like a possibility. I will be looking forward to seeing more > information on this. Ok, well if you can make it, we'll hope to see you there. Edward Beggs www.biofuels.ca > > Bruce Colley Sustainable Energy Project > www.sustainableenergyproject.org > > > SNIP ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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