Thermal
August Member
A lot of hobby side gigs aren't meant to make you a millionaire. From what I recall, it paid for itself and a little extra, but he mostly just liked being a green mad scientist.
Sustainable Fuels
- Thread starter Orphia Nay
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acbytesla
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My neighbor did it to keep his own truck running and for heating oil. He stopped doing it because at first the cooking oil he got at restaurants was free. The restaurants use to pay to dump it. But as more people did it, small companies would do it and sell it. Mostly for heating. And his supply went away.
EHocking
Penultimate Amazing
Was his name Walter?
acbytesla
Penultimate Amazing
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Very good. Walter White, right? I know the character cooks meth. I hear it is very good series. I am one of those people that hasn't seen it, Game of Thrones, or the Sopranos. I did binge watch The Wire however.
When the local government went hunting the brick makers for cooking them with drain oil burners they moved over to wood. The fines for pollution got pretty high.
It's a lot cheaper but requires much more in each furnace they stack.
It used to be waste oil was more expensive and we couldn't sell tree waste, had to give it away or dump it somewhere. Now the brick makers buy it seasonally especially if you have the thick stuff. Now it's a bit difficult to get rid of waste oil in quantity.
Low priced fuels create innovative methods for using it in industry.
I moved over to using firewood from gas in my occasional lead melts. I get the sticks for free. Increases profit margin. It required redoing my kit to process it some.
I would still have to use LP gas to make zinc ingots. Price per kilo locally doesn't make it worth doing.
It's a lot cheaper but requires much more in each furnace they stack.
It used to be waste oil was more expensive and we couldn't sell tree waste, had to give it away or dump it somewhere. Now the brick makers buy it seasonally especially if you have the thick stuff. Now it's a bit difficult to get rid of waste oil in quantity.
Low priced fuels create innovative methods for using it in industry.
I moved over to using firewood from gas in my occasional lead melts. I get the sticks for free. Increases profit margin. It required redoing my kit to process it some.
I would still have to use LP gas to make zinc ingots. Price per kilo locally doesn't make it worth doing.
EHocking
Penultimate Amazing
Breaking Bad is well worth the effort, and the pay off at the end is worth the time watching the whole series.
Unlike GoT ending which they just threw together as an afterthought when the money and ideas ran out.
Never watched Sopranos or the Wire.
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acbytesla
Penultimate Amazing
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The Wire is insanely good. One of, if not the best series I have ever seen on television. I recommend it. It's about the drug business in Baltimore. 5old from the perspective of the addicts, the pushers and the police trying to control it.
EHocking
Penultimate Amazing
Yeah, never could quite get into I’m afraid.
I have been watching a lot of videos about Asain and S. American farming practices.
A notable trend is that smaller gasoline and diesel powered tractors and tiller/cultivators are the best option. Small two strokes in trimmers and chainsaws are also common.
Stuff any N. American hobby farmer might have to keep a vegetable garden.
Notably missing was anything battery powered. Those show up in places more first world in vanity lawn care. I seem to be on the edge of the transition in Mexico. We do love our fancy gardens.
What I did notice is that single cylinder engines with low fuel consumption were preferred for most tasks including transport vehicles.
The industrial farms of Canada, Europe and the US are quite exceptional in use of big tractors and huge implements.
A notable trend is that smaller gasoline and diesel powered tractors and tiller/cultivators are the best option. Small two strokes in trimmers and chainsaws are also common.
Stuff any N. American hobby farmer might have to keep a vegetable garden.
Notably missing was anything battery powered. Those show up in places more first world in vanity lawn care. I seem to be on the edge of the transition in Mexico. We do love our fancy gardens.
What I did notice is that single cylinder engines with low fuel consumption were preferred for most tasks including transport vehicles.
The industrial farms of Canada, Europe and the US are quite exceptional in use of big tractors and huge implements.
novaphile
Quester of Doglets
Small devices with no catalytic converter, makes you wonder what their lung cancer rates are eh?
All that benzene that they're inhaling (and other dangerous aromatics).
It's not about much more than sustainable agriculture as it seems.
I fully agree that small gasoline engines are known to be the more polluting of the options but its what they have and use. It's what I can get far cheaper than battery powered options. China is more than happy to make it available.
To me this seems like an opportunity for change by making a more eco friendly option affordable.
The first world technology certainly could be made into a basic replacement for the ICE engines on thier existing equipment. Charge by solar panels on the farm even.
Just a possibility for the near future?
I fully agree that small gasoline engines are known to be the more polluting of the options but its what they have and use. It's what I can get far cheaper than battery powered options. China is more than happy to make it available.
To me this seems like an opportunity for change by making a more eco friendly option affordable.
The first world technology certainly could be made into a basic replacement for the ICE engines on thier existing equipment. Charge by solar panels on the farm even.
Just a possibility for the near future?
dirtywick
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basic electric lawn care tools for a single home are cheap to buy and power, and they’re virtually maintenance free. not sure what’s out there for more commercial models.
every small farmer i know fixes stuff. a lot of that equipment is something you buy one of.
every small farmer i know fixes stuff. a lot of that equipment is something you buy one of.
Rolfe
Adult human female
This twitter thread about the mess Lamborghini is making of the transition to EVs has something to say about "sustainable" liquid fuels.
acbytesla
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I look at this,Trump with his anti-renewables rants, the electric companies attempting to end net metering as examples that the fossil fuel related industries are having an existential crisis. Their only hope is a desperate one. Getting politicians to protect them from the inevitable.
I nave been convinced for a while that liquid fuel is useful in ways that electricity in lithium ion batteries are not. But the best value proposition wins.
I will never forget my experience trying to sell DCA token ring interface cards to an IT director of a bank. He pointed me to this gateway server that had all the benefits of what I was selling. It was cheaper, simpler and a more elegant solution. I knew instantly that not only I had no chance selling them to him, but soon no chance of selling them to others.
Most synthetic fuels have a steep uphill battle. They need to become less expensive than fossil fuels to find a niche.
I was of the impression it was just Aramco that are supplying sustainable fuel to F1.Formula 1 themselves on their sustainable fuel:
"Before 2022, cars were running on fuel containing 5.75% bio-components. That ratio rose to 10% in 2022 through a move to E10 fuel (E stands for ethanol, 10 refers to the percentage in the mixture).
From 2026, following intense research and testing with Formula 1 partner ARAMCO, the fuel in every race car will be fully sustainable.
That means no new fossil carbon will be burned. Instead, the carbon will be derived from non-food sources, genuine municipal waste or even out of the atmosphere.
The fuel will also be ‘drop-in’, which means it can be used in almost any internal combustion engined vehicle around the world. By 2030, there will be around 1.2bn such cars on the road worldwide and thus fuel developed in Formula 1 could be used to reduce emissions."
The inside scoop on the 2026 power unit regulations
Formula 1 is set to get more powerful and be kinder to the environment from 2026, thanks to new power unit regulations announced today by the FIA. The rules run for pages and pages, so let us bring you the highlights.www.formula1.com
I've been informed all the four F1 fuel suppliers will be providing sustainable fuel for the teams next year.
The insanity of Gump and his equally greedy cohorts is one problem. That will pass or be bypassed by people with better future vision.
It is already.
The difference of battery of any type VS liquid fuels is location and climate. As location becomes remote or sunlight for solar gets to only 4 hours a day in extreme northern areas liquid might be currently the only real solution.
Even for me in the tropics working on undeveloped properties liquid is the affordable solution. In suburbia electric is preferred.
It's an economic answer for prices of equipment. Wages here don't support new battery powered devices for us. Stores don't
carry them much. Yet. I hope to see that change.
acbytesla
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The key word being yet Yes fossil fuels stll reign supreme in many locations and applications. Synthetic fuels on the other hand haven't made an impact pretty much anywhere.
Interestingly, the most electrified vehicle country in the world by far today is Norway. And it is entirely North of 58 degrees. The Northern border of the contiguous United States is 49 degrees North.. 99 percent of all Americans and 70 percent of all Canadians live South of there. And 99 percent of everyone in Canada live South of the entire country of Norway.
Rolfe
Adult human female
I live at close on 56 degrees north and I'm not seeing any sense in Benotto's argument. Solar gets scarce in winter, but the wind farms are coining it in. I have a friend who lives off grid at 58 degrees north in a place that's remote by most standards (maybe not Australian!). He has his solar panels angled to scavenge every last sunbeam in winter, because in summer he produces more than he can possibly use or store and it goes to waste. He has a wind turbine, and both together run his home. He doesn't have enough surplus to run the car (at least in winter), but he gets grid electricity from a nearby public charger for that. He has also given up using his petrol-powered generator on dull windless winter days, and now simply steals a bit from the car battery.
If he could store the summer surplus that he throws away, imagine how that would work! It's not practical as yet, but give it time. He laughs at the idea of liquid fuels having any future.
If he could store the summer surplus that he throws away, imagine how that would work! It's not practical as yet, but give it time. He laughs at the idea of liquid fuels having any future.
Infrastructure has a lot to do with if electric can work where you are. Or how deep your pockets to install an adequate solar array.
For Mexico to catch up to Norway in EV use we would need to beef up our power grids by triple to support home chargers. Local climate has another factor, northern Alaskan climate and Scotland's are different.
Solar and windfarms take real investment to get up to a level that supports full communities and states. Mexico hasn't done that yet. I hear nothing about it much less a public charger network for major metro areas.
Right now my area is landfll gas and LP generate electric with a spattering of geothermal. We could do solar well.
What you have come to take for normal we haven't seen yet. Yet where I live is quite comfortable in our current situation. Others have far less in the world.
For Mexico to catch up to Norway in EV use we would need to beef up our power grids by triple to support home chargers. Local climate has another factor, northern Alaskan climate and Scotland's are different.
Solar and windfarms take real investment to get up to a level that supports full communities and states. Mexico hasn't done that yet. I hear nothing about it much less a public charger network for major metro areas.
Right now my area is landfll gas and LP generate electric with a spattering of geothermal. We could do solar well.
What you have come to take for normal we haven't seen yet. Yet where I live is quite comfortable in our current situation. Others have far less in the world.
Rolfe
Adult human female
You're letting yourselves be left behind, out of sheer apathy it seems. You could absolutely coin it in with solar. I often look at the clouds here and think, what could my solar array do without these? (I know, because we have cloudless days, and it's massive.) Get off your arses and get with the programme.
If we're going to criticise an excellent source of energy because it might not work so well in northern Alaska, we might as well go back to the caves. Most of the world lives in sun-belt countries and some of them don't even realise what they've got.
If we're going to criticise an excellent source of energy because it might not work so well in northern Alaska, we might as well go back to the caves. Most of the world lives in sun-belt countries and some of them don't even realise what they've got.