🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Jun9.164135.26596@clipper.ingr.com>, fenwick@clipper.ingr.com (Stephen Fenwick) writes:

> BTW, what's the problem with a renewable-fuel vehicle? Mercedes is
> showing off a methanol-powered car; electric cars have been around
> for a long time (at least as long as IC engined cars). How about hybrids?

There are several problems with using alcohol as a fuel,
particularly with methanol.  While it's easy to make alcohol, for
ethanol just throw some yeast into some malted grain or fruit
mixture, it is quite a bit more difficult to get it into a form
that is useful as fuel.  Most of the methods of which I am aware
(I am not an expert) require a rather large energy input to
concentrate the alcohol content.  The net output is not all that
great, and various byproducts need disposal.  Also, while oil
spills are a serious problem of using petroleum fuels, we have
the potential for an even greater problem with methanol.  Since
it is miscible with water, and since methanol is highly toxic,
you have the very real potential for an environmental disaster of
the first rank in the event of a major spill.  There is the
terrifying prospect of rendering entire aquifers unfit for use.
A few dead seagulls will look like a minor environmental insult
compared to such a catastrophy.

With electric cars, the biggest problem that know about is still
the matter of storage.  Completely aside from the problems of
range and reserve fuel for emergency use, the present technology
for storage batteries is wholly inadequate.  The cost and weight
of the various heavy-metal storage batteries is still
prohibitive.  And since they don't last forever, there is the
problem of dealing with the disposal of them.  And in the event
of an accident, do you really want to be around when 50-100
batteries rupture and spew acid all over the place.  I expect
that some of these problems can be avoided with improvements in
technology, and the upcoming projects in Southern California will
probably come up with some new approaches.  But even so, it
doesn't seem quite right to be relying on remotely generated
electricity unless we can come up with a better way of generating
it than using fossil fuels.  It displaces the problem, while
arguably making it worse overall.  Concentrating power in the
form of electricity seems like inappropriate technology for use
in a small, self-contained vehicle.
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Mark E. Slagle                                 PO Box 61059
slagle@lmsc.lockheed.com                       Sunnyvale, CA   94088
408-756-0895                                   USA