Mr. Fusion 3gee

[POS carb]

Convert your Honda Accord to run on trash (http://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-your-Honda-Accord-to-run-on-trash/)
http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/F8K/DIF3/FPBKZCUZ/F8KDIF3FPBKZCUZ.LARGE.jpg

[charliekuney]

This has been posted before.

[2oodoor]

This has been posted before.

In HD it's been posted before? Still FAH

[Dr_Snooz]

YES!! Wood gas rules! During WWII, when all the petroleum was being diverted to military use, people were rolling around on wood gas. The US even put out a pamphlet describing the conversion for citizens. I wouldn't call it "trash," exactly, as wood is getting scarce but it definitely beats petroleum. I have always envisioned it as a fuel technology more suited to pickups (where you can put the cooker hardware in the bed) but whatever works. It also helps if you own a sawmill or have some other source of cheap wood to burn. I'm not sure how he's making that work in downtown Oakland. I hope to be able to do some testing with woodgas electric generation at some point. Photovoltaic solar, IMHO, is a giant pipe dream. Even in sunny California.

Is it so classic that he has a Burning Man bumper sticker? Only in NorCal.

[cygnus x-1]

Wood gas is an interesting technology but it's not really suited for mobile power generation. The energy density isn't high enough for it to be practical, and it's hard to control on a small scale. I suspect it would be better to use the syn-gas in one of the gas-to-liquid processes to generate liquid fuel for direct combustion.

Photovoltaics I think still have some promise, but the energy density is still not high enough. And again, they are only suitable for stationary applications and need some sort of battery backup.

I'm really hoping we start seeing more advances in bio-based fuels, like diesel from algae. We already have a vast infrastructure for handling liquid fuels so it makes sense to keep using that if possible. Bio-based oils can also be used for other industrial process, like making plastics and such.


C|

[Dr_Snooz]

I definitely wouldn't want to use a wood gasifier for running errands around town. Yikes how frustrating. I think it makes more sense for a stationary generator with a constant load.

I've been trying a very small scale PV setup for running a sprinkler timer to water my garden. God almighty what a pain. It is a very low draw application, but somehow the battery is always dead. I have no idea how the garden has survived. It has either been bone dry for weeks or ringing wet because the hard water calcifies the valves and keeps them from closing. I can't seem to keep my batteries from crapping out completely and needing to be replaced either. It's just a constant headache. I finally gave up and put it on grid power.

The epiphany for me came a couple weeks ago when I was trying to run my table saw on a 15A breaker. It was popping constantly. Then I started thinking about how much solar I would need to run a 30A table saw, which is completely realistic in an off grid situation. I would spend an eye watering fortune to get the panels and the inverter and the batteries. I would also cover my 4 acres with panels. Then after spending that fortune, within probably 5 years, I'd have to start replacing dying panels and dead batteries (and those heavy duty 6V batteries are stratospherically expensive). I just don't see a way for that math ever to work in my favor. That's why I'm thinking more about wood gasifiers now. Solar just isn't a practical way to generate power at this point.

I still can't figure out why we can't run down to Sears and buy an ethanol brewer. We could throw all our kitchen and yard waste in it and have ethanol, ready to go. Nor can I figure out why every modern car doesn't have a switch to change the EFI fuel maps from gasoline to ethanol. Ethanol is the ideal auto fuel. Abundant from nearly any plant source, cheap and super clean. It doesn't make sense that we keep sending our boys off to die in the Middle East when we could be running our auto fleet on ethanol.

[Dr_Snooz]

^^^Good grief. Did I just write all that? :facepalm:

[Oldblueaccord]

Sounded good to me.

I hope to go 100% e 85 in one of my cars this year.