Fuel Oil

[KB2WIG]

Wallmart is nice pse check out this.... ..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billadams/321845104/

[K6JEK]

I think this thread needs some good news.   I already mentioned Nanosolar, brilliant guys with the most sophisticated solar panel factory in the world and it's right here in America.

http://www.nanosolar.com/

Here's a company building a factory in Nevada. That's in the US, isn't it?  Ausra makes concentrating solar. They claim much of the power for the whole US of A could be generated by concentrating solar in Arizona (also in the USA) and Nevada. We'd need some big wires though.

http://www.ausra.com/

Then there are these guys, some of the smartest guys on the planet when it comes to batteries. They are in Massachusetts, another one of the 50 states:

http://www.a123systems.com/#/home/phev

[K3ZS]

In 1995 I bought an American made Honda Accord.    I few years later I traded in my foreign made Chevy Impala (Canada) for an American made Mazda Tribute.    Both American made cars with Japanese names are running perfectly.   The Chevy took two engines to get to 100K miles.

[kb3nqd]

I certainly agree with the sentiment. However, I think the present choices are sending the money to Japan for a fuel efficient car or sending it to Saudi Arabia for the oil.  I chose Japan. Maybe later the options will be better. 

Hybrids IIRC are made in Japan but regular Civics, Accords, etc...are made in the good ole US of A by Honda of America (short titled HAM).  They are required by law to have manufactured 98% of their parts in the US.  My mother worked for one of their parts suppliers for quite some time.  HAM employs a lot of Americans just like Nissan and Toyota plants located in the US.  A US car manufacturer can farm 70% or better of their work out to Mexico or the Phillipines and still say that their car is "made in the USA".  Made in the USA doesn't mean what it used to with US car manufacturers.   

[WA1GFZ]

Profit goes where?

[kb3nqd]

The same place an American mfg's goes, shareholders, overpaid executives, etc....

[John K5PRO]

I have owned diesel cars and a Vanagon since 1978, all VW, and gotten good life, and excellent mileage. Even the slug vanagon got 28 MPG, could barely climb a hill. I was the third owner, drove it across country, added 150K miles and sold it for half of what I invested, $1800, to a french fry oil fan in California. My present commuter car is a 2002 Jetta wagon - gets 42 MPG, about 650 miles on a tank, so i fill it 12 times a year on average. I do have a Toyota tacoma, which is needed for my other main hobby, camping, hauling our kayaks and raft, exploring the countryside, & hauling boat anchors. The last Toyota i had, was a 1992 4 Runner, and I put 200K miles on it before i sold it to a kid who was heading to Alaska in it. Hope he made it....

Couple of years ago in Belize I rode in a guys turbo diesel Tacoma. I forget the model, but it was an impressive hill climber. Not available in the states, yet. When I go to Europe for business, I always get a diesel car, they are the most common there now. I think autos have become an international commodity anymore, not something that one touts for their patriotism, but one that is judged on technology, reliability, and cost of operation, as well as purchase cost. Detroit automakers lost the ability to produce at least three of these points years ago.

The diesel models + hybrids are coming soon, about 10 models, to the states, check out a recent Business Week article. These may make a big difference, as long as the emissions are well controlled.
http://tinyurl.com/3jv7tf
 

[k4kyv]

Coskata Inc., developer of a unique process that uses specialized bacteria to produce cellulosic ethanol announced Friday it will begin construction for the first production facility to demonstrate the process.

The demonstration plant will start early next year and run 24 hours a day to produce about 40,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol derived from almost any organic waste material, including agricultural waste and municipal garbage that might normally be placed in landfill.

Coskata’s facility will be located at the site of the Westinghouse Plasma Center, a research facility focused on exploring new-energy uses for plasma beyond its current industrial applications. The high-energy plasma gasifies the organic material into synthetic gas – largely carbon dioxide and hydrogen – which Coskata’s patented bioorganisms literally feed on, making ethanol as a byproduct.

They claim that this process generates vastly more net-energy than that of producing ethanol derived from corn.

Coskata’s process can generate enough ethanol to be produce as much as 7.7 times more energy than the process requires, while ethanol produces from corn delivers a maximum of about 1.3 times the energy required to produce it. Coskata says its unique process can generate about 100 gallons of ethanol from a single dry ton of waste material, compared with about 67 gallons of ethanol that can be squeezed from a ton of corn.

http://www.autoobserver.com/2008/04/gm-ethanol-part.html

[W3SLK]

Don said:

Coskata Inc., developer of a unique process that uses specialized bacteria to produce cellulosic ethanol announced Friday it will begin construction for the first production facility to demonstrate the process.

Interesting, we were supposed to grow/ferment and isolate that bacteria on a large scale in our fermentation facility. We currently have 20 20K gal. and 1 40K gal. fermentors sitting idle (with the exception of some BTI spores we are making). Something fell through. We seemed to be on line for this product but then negotiations abruptly ended.

[WA1GFZ]

We started turning off the furnace when we don't need hot water so it doesn't have to run every couple hours. We are down to about 3 hours by just adjusting showers and dishwasher runs back to back with a couple hot loads in the washing machine.

[k4kyv]

Coskata Inc., developer of a unique process that uses specialized bacteria to produce cellulosic ethanol announced Friday it will begin construction for the first production facility to demonstrate the process.

Interesting, we were supposed to grow/ferment and isolate that bacteria on a large scale in our fermentation facility. We currently have 20 20K gal. and 1 40K gal. fermentors sitting idle (with the exception of some BTI spores we are making). Something fell through. We seemed to be on line for this product but then negotiations abruptly ended.

I hope this doesn't have unintended consequences like the introduction of gypsy moths, africanised killer bees, Asian lady bugs, or the re-introduction of white-tail deer to middle TN.

Imagine if that bacteria got loose into the environment and contaminated and destroyed or modified all the earth's yeasts useful for brewing beer, so that the product ended up tasting like gasoline?

[KB2WIG]

  "  so that the product ended up tasting like gasoline  "

Guess i'd hafta drink more to forget the taste...................  klc

[W4EWH]

Profit goes where?

For insights into that and other questions concerning U.S. trade policy, I recommend you read "The Japan That Can Say No", co-written by Sony chairman Akio Morita and politician Shintaro Ishihara. Although unauthorized translations are widely available, Morita had his part of the book withheld from the "official" U.S. edition.

73,

Bill, W1AC

[W4EWH]

Imagine if that bacteria got loose into the environment and contaminated and destroyed or modified all the earth's yeasts useful for brewing beer, so that the product ended up tasting like gasoline?

I think that happened years ago. Haven't you ever tasted Bud LIght?

Bill

[W1RKW]

Recycled beer.

I have a Honda auto and it was built in Japan and that was my intent to get a car built overseas.  As much as I'd like to keep the money in the US, I had to think of my own benefit first. Call me paranoid. I had many a vehicle built in the US over the years only to have stupid inconvenient problems and get screwed by the dealer having them repaired.  After 8 years since my that new car purchase, not a single problem.  Maybe this is the exception rather than the rule but it gave or gives me piece of mind.

On the flip side, I bought a used 94 Ford Ranger with 100K miles on it 6 years ago. It's my daily ride. I don't know how much of it was built in or out of the US.  Excluding items expected to wear out like the alternator, water pump and normal maintenance items like brake pads, tires, etc., it has been very reliable. Replaced the ball joints a few months ago and it's solid again handling wise. It now has 230K miles and still going strong.  The body is horrible but it's reliable and gets 23mpg.  My Ranger is a tool, not a jewel and it owes me nothing.

[WA1GFZ]

My 88 chevy truck went 144k before it was rear ended. 1 battery, a brake job, a radiator and an exhaust system.
My 2001 chevy has 110 miles. 1 battery, 1 set of tires, 1 brake job, knock on wood running strong and I got 20 MPG going to Deerfield with a 5.3 V8 a couple weeks ago.

[Bill, KD0HG]

The Ford Ranger is a FB truck. I bought a new one w/ a 2.9L V6 in '87, sold it a few years ago to a family friend in AZ. Got an email the other day to let me know it passed 300,000 miles. Now, I really babied it when I owned it, synthetic oil and all, but it's only needed a heater fan, a replacement 5-speed tranny (made by Mazda), and cooling fan clutch over the last 20 years.

I just saw a news story that Toyota Prius sales just passed a million. I'd fire every one of the senior management of GM and Ford for having a terminal case of cranio-rectalitis.

No golden parachutes, either.

I mean, who in their right mind would want to buy a comfortable, reliable general purpose sedan that got near 50 MPG, when you could buy one that got half that mileage?

[W1RKW]

The Ford Ranger is a FB truck. I bought a new one w/ a 2.9L V6 in '87, sold it a few years ago to a family friend in AZ. Got an email the other day to let me know it passed 300,000 miles. Now, I really babied it when I owned it, synthetic oil and all, but it's only needed a heater fan, a replacement 5-speed tranny (made by Mazda), and cooling fan clutch over the last 20 years.

My Ranger has the 5spd Mazda tranny too.  I thought I toasted it a couple of years ago when it went dry because of leak I didn't know I had.  Apparently there are seals for the shifter where the fluid will leak by when the seals harden and the fluid will drip down toward the back of the tail shaft.  With turbulence underneath the vehicle one would not know the leak existed.  So I ran the tranny dry one day.  I thought I was screwed when the thing started making a groaning sound.  Refilled the tranny up and got the shifter seals replaced and I'm up to 230K miles.  It has a noisy input shaft bearing and 3rd gear today but it's still cranking along.

[ka3zlr]

I have an 05 it'sa neat little truck...    no complaints from here...

[WA1GFZ]

ah $4.03 for gas today. I love it.

[ka3zlr]

Hey, on yesterdays Noon News...The Econ. Feller stated that: The Daily price of a barrel of oil only effects the cost at the pump 6 weeks later..

So six weeks ago the price of a barrel was.?

[W1ATR]

paying $4.699 here for diesel, with 3 service trucks rolling, I get to suck up $1500 a week of the OPEC gold.

[WA1GFZ]

The poor CEO of Exxon was on NBC Friday complaining that they only make 10% profit.....poor thing is so sorry prices are up. Let us see double the cost do the same work double profit.
All Clinton's fault

[ka3zlr]

Well it's really ingenious Frank if you think about it.... set the laws up in the country that you want exorbitant amount of Profit from, that, use the "Green" Theology to steer drilling, processing, and transport off shore and Control the Spigot when delivering too.... it's all relative...

And the cats in Sudia Arabia "in the Media" flipped off the Bushman...I envy the Contrast.....They'll pay Four...They'll pay five...

[WA1GFZ]

Then install a little monkey in the white house.

Only thing left to do is disarm the population. Watch the S.C. on DC gun laws.
I'm sure won't come out till after November.
Yea, we are free...free to pay out the a$$.
I was working with some people from Canada this week and it is interesting comparing the price of health care and gas with them. They don't support the begging world and the crooks in the middle east so their government isn't 10T in the hole.