though solar is small, if all homes/apts have this technology, wouldn't their incremental contributions aggregate into something substantial? I think we might need a mix of macroscopic and microscopic solutions.

Solar water heaters would reduce monthly electricity or natural gas bills by $15-35. I think the savings would outpace the purchase and ongoing maintenance costs. I believe this is far more cost effective than solar converted to electricity.

A few of our Pelican brothers are already working hard to save the planet. Pelican member "NotFarNow" has converted his vehicle to run on used veggie oil. And a member named "Dean" has converted his diesel truck and two TDI VW's to run on biodiesel. LubeMaster77 also has an additive that may make biodiesel stable and usable during the cold weather months.

I am very interested in earth berm houses - especially since they don't seem to require exotic materials or construction methods. So they may be a good candidate for DIY construction. I also believe some of the designs using slanted windows for passive heaating are quite modern and beautiful looking.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a source for DIY plans that would meet the stringent building code requirements of my state (Massachusetts). Most of them say things like "Dig a big hole and pour in some concrete"...and while that may work just fine in northern Montana, I think I'd need something more rigorous to get past the Planning Committee in MA.

Also, if you are interested in saving energy, there is a new product out there called "aerogel" that provides almost unbelievable insulating properties. It was developed by NASA to protect space craft components from the deep cold of space. And it has only become available to consumers in very small quantities two months ago. Given time, it seems likely it will become more widely available and cost effective and will make home heating and cooling costs plummet.

Hey Janus,

Just a little correction. To run Biodiesel you don't have to convert anything. Just pump the stuff in the fuel tank.

Dean, good call. I was typing quickly and being imprecise. I should have said, "Dean has optimized his diesel vehicles for blinding performance using biodiesel."

;)

Dean, are you brewing your own biodiesel, part of a co-op, or buying it?

Pretty fun to start playing with diesel performance once the fuel is free. I installed a set of GTD injectors, advanced the IP timing, increased the fuelling and upped the boost on the turbocharger on my 1.9... pretty impressive change but not anything like your 240ft/lbs of torque!

Mistake I made was not running an EGT guage... Burned the turbine wheel up on the way back from Montreal last week.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1146064050.jpg
Ah well, good opportuninty to upgrade to a k24 turbo.

that looks bad. :(

Article on the economics of alternative fuels

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/2690341.html

Thom,

Yeah I've read that article... and can't disagree with it. Large scale commercial production of ethanol and even biodiesel is financially questionable. Do we want to cut back food farming to promote growing canola for fuel? Who knows. But, for people able to produce fuel from waste products, it's a win-win. There's a fish plant in Nova Scotia that was heating their buildings with biodiesel made from their waste fish oil, at one point they were even offereing biodiesel for free to their employees. But, those waste products are limited... in some areas guys are fighting over used oil from restaurants.

I just got back from a 1400 mile roundtrip, total spend on fuel: $0. So from my personal situation, it makes a lot of economic sense. Every friday, I used to fill up my car for $40-50. Now, every friday I stop at the Far East Takeout to pick up free oil for. Take it home, dump it in my filtration sytem. 15 minutes of effort a week. I get a tank of diesel every month or so, I've gone as long as 3 months on a tank of diesel.

Jim,
Ya it does look bad... it sounded way worse than it looks! My own fault for not running an EGT gauge... too much fuel and not a big enough turbo to provide air.

Hi Jake,

No, I buy my Bio at a fuel station. I thought about making it but I couldn't find Methanol cheap enough for me.

I am wondering if it is possible to make Bio from Hemp. I think Hemp is easy to grow (although I can't seem to do it). Our no good Gov. ought to love that idea:mad:

Yeah, the last time I got caught with, err... "hemp oil" I was lucky to get away with a warning. Lucky I knew the cop.

Yeah the cost of methanol seems to be what holds a lot of people back from doing home-brew biodiesel. That was certainly a factor when I decided to go the SVO/WVO route.

Funny thing... yesterday I got an email from the federal gov't saying I have to start "self declaring" my vegetable oil consumption and paying $0.17/liter. They say they want it done quarterly, but I think I'll play with them and send it every week in loose change.

????

There is a 'road tax' on fuel purchased for use on highways maintained with tax dollars. (If you purchase fuel for farm use, it is exempt from this tax.
The federal government is very nicely asking Jake for the taxes which have not been paid on fuel he is using to drive over the highway system. I think there is an exemption for home made bio-fuels up to 49 liters/month, but I stand to be corrected.
Les

Yep... have to start paying my way. Fair game... it'll still work out to under $400/yr.

Here's what they said:

A consumer who acquires motive fuel in the province other than from a retailer and the tax has not been paid, must report and remit the tax to the Department [Subsection 6(3) of the Act]. Therefore, as a motive fuel, the cooking oil that is consumed in your 1996 Jetta is subject to the provincial gasoline and motive fuel tax rate of $0.169 per litre. As a result, you are required to self-assess tax on the volume of the cooking oil and remit it to the Minister of Finance. Your tax payment (made payable to the Minister of Finance), along with a brief letter to account for the total volumes of motive fuel and tax due, must be provided to the Department on or before the 25th day of the month following the reporting period, which is done on a quarterly basis. Please note that the Department may change the reporting period based on the volumes of fuel reported and amount of tax remitted.

As for an exemption for home-made biofuels.. I haven't been able to find anything on that. If you know of anything, please pass it along. There are exemptions for propane, ethanol, electric etc... but nothing I can find for biodiesel or SVO/WVO.

How did they get wind of it, Jake?

Actually, I asked. Every year, I send an email to the province saying that I am running WVO and would like to know what I should do about road taxes. I do this to protect myself from being seen as trying to skirt the law, and also because I think I SHOULD be paying road tax. I always use a general inquiries email address, and have never had a reply. Until now!