If gasoline went away, how would you keep hot rodding?

I read somewhere that if all the farmers in the US stopped growing food crops and switched to feed corn for ethanol production, even if there were enough "refineries" to produce and distibute the stuff and every vehicle could use it the supply would satisfy only 2-3% of the need and we'd be starving in short order, along with better than half the world.
Fair trade-off, I don't think so.
Gasoline is where it is at and where it will be for the forseeable future. Alternative fuels will develop over the next 5-10 decades but in our lifetimes we'll be paying at the pump just like now except the pumps will have triple digits in the dollar column per gallon. Let's see, that would make ethanol in the quadruple digits, wouldn't it?

 

I think that gasoline won't go away through my generation, and I'm the youngster.

However; If I was a big oil company, I would start spending my money on an alternate fuel source, that can actually run combustion engines. Not vegitable oil, or anything like that, but an actual alternative to gasoline. Then, when the time comes when the world is kicked like a keg at a highschool party, I pull out that extra keg, and the world is happy again.

I hate emissions. And I'm happy about it.

-Rick

 

Eythel wasnt that made from corn??????????

 

I read once a year or two ago that a company was close to perfecting a technology that took scraps from chicken, pork and beef processing plants and actually made a form of crude oil. Wonder what happened to that technology?

EDIT: My bad it was turkey guts. But guts is guts right?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1125_031125_turkeyoil.html

Option 2: Researchers turn manure into crude oil;
Waste could become fuel if process can be perfected

"URBANA, Ill. - A University of Illinois research team is working on turning pig manure into a form of crude oil that could be refined to heat homes or generate electricity.

Years of research and fine-tuning are ahead before the idea could be commercially viable, but results so far indicate there might be big benefits for farmers and consumers, lead researcher Yanhui Zhang said.

“This is making more sense in terms of alternative energy or renewable energy and strategically for reducing our dependency on foreign oil,” said Zhang, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering. “Definitely, there is potential in the long term.”

Speeding up the process
The thermochemical conversion process uses intense heat and pressure to break down the molecular structure of manure into oil. It’s much like the natural process that turns organic matter into oil over centuries, but in the laboratory the process can take as little as a half-hour.

A similar process is being used at a plant in Carthage, Mo., where tons of turkey entrails, feathers, fat and grease from a nearby Butterball turkey plant are converted into a light crude oil, said Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Omaha, Neb.-based Conagra Foods, which operates the plant in a joint venture with Changing World Technologies of Long Island, N.Y.

Converting manure is sure to catch the attention of swine producers. Safe containment of livestock waste is costly for farmers, especially at large confinement operations where thousands of tons of manure are produced each year. Also, odors produced by swine farms have made them a nuisance to neighbors.

“If this ultimately becomes one of the silver bullets to help the industry, I’m absolutely in favor of it,” said Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association.

Is the process economically viable?
Zhang and his research team have found that converting manure into crude oil is possible in small batches, but much more research is needed to develop a continuously operating reaction chamber that could handle large amounts of manure. That is key to making the process practicable and economically viable.

Zhang predicted that one day a reactor the size of a home furnace could process the manure generated by 2,000 hogs at a cost of about $10 per barrel.

Big oil refineries are unlikely to purchase crude oil made from converted manure, Zhang said, because they aren’t set up to refine it. But the oil could be used to fuel smaller electric or heating plants, or to make plastics, ink or asphalt, he said.

“Crude oil is our first raw material,” he said. “If we can make it value-added, suddenly the whole economic picture becomes brighter.”

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed." from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4732398/

 

Well, where?

I read somewhere that a guy took a "Stock" 69 Charger over 175 mph and then the cops let him go.
I also read "Somewhere" that we were going to run out of oil by 2005. Hmm, that one didn't work out, did it?

 

I vote Horse. Aint nothing better!

Rode from Kansas to Florida back in '91, I'd do it again.

 

I'll run my car on HATRED.

And if I run out of that, I'll run it on meanness.

 

I'm 35, and if we run out of gas before I am dead we have bigger shit to worry about than Hot Rods. I like the Mad Max theory though........gotta have one o' those Helicopters.

 

Is moon shine illegal if it is only for your consumption if not i'd convert my cars to alcohal injection and expariment till i got it right.

 

alcohol all the way, I got a still, I err uh wait no I don't, never mind

 

Yeah, I'm aware of biodiesel. We've got stations here selling the stuff nowadays. My company has even generated diesel fuel from newspaper. And I read that some scientists are turning plastics back into oil using a series of microwaves. There's also an Australian company up north that generates diesel fuel from coconuts (isn't much good below 23degrees Celcius though as it solidifies....oh, and you can eat the stuff!). The beauty of that fuel is it "closes the loop" to some degree in terms of CO2 emissions. There seems to be endless possiblities for diesel....BUT, like you say, you need oil for lubrication systems.
That abiotic theory seems to have been mostly debunked, and is only acknowledged due to it's political implications. Some crazy Russian thinking there, for sure!
All good stuff though.

 

Hell I remember the enviro wienies swearing we would be out in 1980! No, '88, no, 97, no ... You get the point.

 

I've researched quite a bit about the coming oil crisis. "Twilight in the Desert" is an excellent book which talks about the decline in the Saudi production. It's written by a Texan oil consultant who worked for Americo in Saudi for 20+ years, so he knows what he's talking about. Since Saudi Arabia is a swing producer, it keeps the price steady as demand flucuates. They have not found a significant new oil field since the 1940s and the old ones are maturing. No swing producer = sharp swings in price = bad for economy.

Theoretically there is enough oil that's economical to get for the next 50 years. However, the wild cards are India and China. If their current rate of consumption keeps going at the rate it has, the oil will run out in 30 years or less. Like someone already said, even before we run out, we will have the greatest impact on the world economy the world has ever seen. Just about everything is made from oil.

Having said that, I think we'll have gasoline for our hot rods and customs for at least my life time (I'm 37). It may be hellishly expensive (i.e. $30 a gallon in todays dollars), but if I'm only driving my flathead occationally I don't think it will matter. Hopefully by then we'll have some alternative fuels for our homes and everyday drivers.

What really bothers me are the people driving around every day in 6,000lb V8 gas guzzlers who don't give a shit about the generation behind them. In Canada where gas is almost $4 a gallon now, you don't see too many Navigators and V10 Ram trucks now. For 90% of the population, you don't need it. It's kind of like knowing your brakes are shot but running flat out knowing full well the road abruptly ends somewhere.

Ethynol is not the answer. We could never produce enough of it, but I guess it's helping get votes which is important to some.

 

I hear you can buy a permit to make your own alcohol for fuel only purposes from the Feds. I'm sure its over-regulated and expensive to get one.

I vote for moonshine. I,ve got the plans to make a still , a double barreled shotgun and I have seen "Deliverence" at least 15 times.

 

if mad max were on the hamb he would call all of you pussies

 

This topic has brought up some question as to whether or not we'll even run out of gas. NOTHING, not even gasoline production can last forever. The end is near! Ha ha ha!

 

Has anybody ever heard of a CHARIOT??? or STAGECOACH??
If gas went away nobody would want that ol 32 sittin in great grampas barn. They would probably give it away...Id have a six pack of horses pulling me around town in it.

 

In order, Nitro, alky/nitro mix, dump everything rotating for a jet and run kerosene.

Pulse jet go kart perhaps

Of course maybe go diesel with a 3408 Cat those we're pretty hot in the day. Big but hot when wicked up little big for a little Plymouth coupe though. Frame stretch would cover that though.

 

I'd be hotroddin' all over the internet! And racing faster than ever also

 

Well that's something I've only just recently heard one thing about. Coconuts to make biodiesel fuel. We are just starting to hear about that in the US. The more I see articles on oil futures and gas prices and so on the more I look at the state of engines as a whole and start to think Diesels may in fact be the perfect engine. Anyone can make fuel. They are hell-a-tough and real work horses. And they are realitively simple. Simple is good.

 

E85 (at least corn based, though I have heard sugar cane is better) is not viable and WILL NOT EVER be a replacement for gas. It takes for too much water to make a gallon of gas (so there is a water shortage and since corn is being used for fuel it drives prices up on a lot of foods - basically E85 will not work on a large scale). This whole push for E85 the government is getting behind is the same old crap with see with the oil industry, people with money in the industry are greasing politicians so that they back them.

As far as internal combustion goes diesels running on biodiesels are the best hope. Looks like there could be some decent promise on biodiesels that comes from Algae (high energy output, renewable, the algae can be feed waste).

But don't worry even you want to make your own biodiesel at home it is still going to cost you money, the politicians are already working on ways to tax you for it (some places have them already in place).

Sorry that sounded political after I re-read it but unfortunately it is the situation.

 

Every show you go to there's always some clit ridin around on a stupid pinstriped chopper bicycle, Flat black w/ red wheels of coarse. You could always go that route.

 

I never belief for a second the claims of oil company researchers that crude oil supply will ever diminish.
What else would they say?
Already everybody has settled with the thought that gasoline will get more and more expensive while it will get rarer....
Mission accomplished.
Since the average American started to worry about where most of our crude oil comes from and at what cost, the prices at the pump increased rapidly.
- Oil companies have us all by the balls and dictate how much we get and how much we have to pay for it.

They make record profits and sheople believe every word and excuse they make for steadily increasing the price of gas without real limitations or regulations or hearings.

Too bad that there will never be any real competition to these companies.

The switch to alternative fuels is necessary, mostly to preserve our earth's delicate environment and to stop dependence on foreign oil, not because we are running out of gas.....

 

Its easy, Propane. Its fast, cheap and easy as hell to do. you get killer lookin tanks as well......

 

I read that article too. I think someone forwarded it to me. Basically explained all the politics concerning E-85 and gave a lot of numbers and sources for the reasearch. The future is Hydrogen / Fuel cells for autos. Wind, solar and new nuclear ( currently fission and possibly fusion in the future) for electricity generation. Nuclear is and will not be an option for autos for security reasons. A new law has been passed that will require all electrical utilities to have 10% or greater of their total capacity, in renewable sources, within the next 5-10 years. That means wind, solar, geothermal and waste energy plants. We might not see a lot of this in our lifetimes but this stuff is moving along quicker than you think.

 

Do you have said article still? I have read several and am amazed that the only source ever quoted for alcohol is new crop growth, to the detriment of food production. What about producing it from food wastes. IIRC there is a plant somewhere taking the methane from a landfill and making some form of alcohol with it (probably Methanol).

My point is there are other sources, like the manure to crude oil mentioned earlier (admittedly that one's pie in the sky for now) that are out there and currently in use.

 

on second thought id go propane... like 5window coupe said- easy, fast and wouldnt change much of the overall look.

 

easy

 

I am going to make an engine that burns dead cats.. . .. . . or live ones i guess. . ?