Comments on: Kentucky Fried Jeepin'

By: Engineer-Poet

Engineer-Poet — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 07:17:41 +0000

Incidentally, 200 miles per petrodiesel gallon probably means just that: only counting the petrodiesel. If you assume 3/4 of the mileage is powered by greasel, you get a very reasonable 50 MPG.

By: Engineer-Poet

Engineer-Poet — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:27:41 +0000

Great! That’s what it’s for.

By: J Random American

J Random American — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:39:40 +0000

I think the 5% claim was for all biodiesel, not just the 100 million gal/year of cooking oil derived biodiesel. Still, I’d take anything in this article with a big grain of salt. It reads like an advocacy piece instead of real analysis.

From the context, that 5% is also probably based on a 41 billion gal/yr consumption estimate which would be about right if they only count diesel and ignore non-transportation sector distillate.

BTW, I meant scarce, not “scare”, obviously. E.P., I found your Lever & a Place to Stand post intersting. I cited it in my cat diesel analysis.

By: Engineer-Poet

Engineer-Poet — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 23:27:27 +0000

Note that the 100 million gallon/year number amounting to 5% of US consumption does not jibe with EIA figures. US distillate consumption averages a bit over 4 million barrels per day, or about 62 billion gallons per year. I've read elsewhere that US cooking grease consumption is about 3.5 BILLION gallons per year, which actually fits with the 5% claim.

By: J Random American

J Random American — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 22:38:53 +0000

Notice that she claims 200mpg on PETRO-diesel, not bio-diesel. I don’t care what she is using, I doubt the 200mpg is typical, there just isn’t enough energy in either fuel. 50mpg is more like it for the diesel Jettas. If she put on skinny tires, over inflated them, ripped out dead weight (like spare tires, passenger seats, and sound insulation), taped all the seams, ran a test run with the wind at her back and then averaged her numbers up then she might get 200. I suspect someone is just lying.

Forget cooking oil. I put up a “crunchy” post on biodiesel sources just this Monday. If she wanted to set a good example about conserving scare resources, then it would be about money. What else do we measure the value of resources in? What you need for your Jeep is cat diesel, or at least Alphakat diesel.

J. Random American
http://ideasinprogress.blogspot.com/