[Leica] A First (very OT)

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 10:54 AM -0700 4/21/05, Adam Bridge wrote:
>Right now you can't BUY a diesel in California because of particulate
>emissions issues and diesel is more expensive than regular unleaded
>and maybe mid-grade. At least in the Sacramento area but I think
>that's true state-wide.
>
>I gather this is really a fuel problem and not an engine problem, that
>the low-particulate fuels are going to be required in 2006 or
>something. I admit I'm hazy.
>
>Of course some folks are going around to the deep fat frying shops,
>buying up the old oil, and after some filtration and purification are
>running that in their old diesels. There's quite a bit of discussion
>about this on the net which you can find via your search engine of
>choice.
>
>I like hybrids, I like the idea of hydrogen even more - especially if
>there were roof-top solar arrays for electricity production. We waste
>so much collection space - every time I fly into Phoenix I imagine a
>solar array on every roof and ponder the elimination of the Glen
>Canyon Dam.
>
>Adam

Right. Europe has had low Sulfur diesel fuels available for years, 
and for years the oil companies here in North America said they can't 
produce the stuff. It's needed for the catalytic converters and 
particle filters to work correctly. So good diesel engines aren't 
available to us. Hybrids therefore are the N.A. answer. The 
diesel/gas price thing is mostly political; in Europe diesel is taxed 
lower, and here diesel is sold for more than gas even though it is 
cheaper to produce. Who knows?

Hybrids and Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have their own problems, and 
are not as environmentally friendly as might be assumed at first. 
Batteries _need_ nasty chemicals, otherwise they could not react with 
such force to produce power. They cause problems to produce, store, 
ship and dispose of. The good thing about hybrids, just like with 
diesels is that they even out the load requirements over their duty 
cycles, and therefore are more efficient.

Hydrogen fuel cells are a good idea, but how do you get the hydrogen? 
 From fossil fuels - the cheapest and easiest way? or through 
electrical means from water? That takes a lot of electricity, and 
then you are only transferring the problems to the power plant from 
the internal combustion engine. Also, how do you distribute, 
transport and store hydrogen. The best storage systems use exotic 
metal sponges that are very energy intensive to produce.

We're not out of the woods.

>
>On 4/21/05, Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com> wrote:
>>  In the US the Prius sort of makes sense, if you drive a _lot_.
>>  Mainly, you get the benefit of driving a car which is somewhat more
>>  socially responsible. In Europe, turbodiesels, which are a huge
>>  portion of the market, make sense. The premium you pay for a diesel
>>  car is less than the premium for a Prius, diesel fuel is cheaper than
>>  gas and there is a huge choice of a lot of models from all
>>  manufacturers. Some get substantially better mileage than the Prius
>>  and many handle better or have other features.
>>
>
>
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