"in the future diesel engines in cars may be banned entirely"
Hooray! :-)
|
|
|
I agree that perhaps longer term it is probably right to legislate the diesel engine off the road ? but this obviously won?t happen any time soon. But I would only agree with such legislation if the diesel engine continued to burn conventional ?dino-diesel?.
I?m amazed that no main stream engine manufacturer has commercial produced a diesel engine for running on straight vegetable oil ? after all, the good Dr. Diesel demonstrated the first engine in public running on peanut oil. His intention long term was for the engine to run from a grown fuel source.
I was really quite sceptical about the use of vegetable oil in a diesel engine until I tried it in my old 309GLD, after an afternoon's worth of modifications. I was amazed at the result: the engine is smoother (OK, not to difficult to achieve on an old 309!), performance is actually better, my fuel bill is substantially cheaper ? and I?m way more environmentally friendly.
I?m sure there?s probably some long term implications for an engine designed to run on diesel, now running on veg oil - valve coking, injector blocking etc ? but the fact remains ? it works and works well. And has done for over 4,000 miles so far. I?m sure any long deficiencies can be overcome with correct design.
By developing a range of truly environmentally friendly diesels, burning a fast growing oil crop, would neatly side step the increasingly complex engines that manufacturers are forced into producing, in order to satisfy ever tightening legislation. End users like us would benefit; who knows we might even get a new engine that a competent DIY?er can maintain, devoid of engine management computers and the complex array of expensive sensors & electronics required to keep an otherwise simple machine, emission compliant.
Perhaps I?m alone, but I think a finite resource like crude oil should be reserved for the things that we currently have no real alternative for: plastics, for example. Imagine the modern world without plastic ? hard isn?t it? Simply burning this valuable resource, when we have the capability (I nearly typed ?intelligence?, but that strikes me as sorely lacking) to develop an alternative is very short sighted.
No matter how good cars like the Prius become, no matter how frugal a modern car engine gets, you can?t escape the fact it?s burning a finite resource and is thus ultimately doomed as a design.
|
"..burning a finite resource"
Methanol is a fair substitute for petrol (just needs to run richer) and burns entirely cleanly. You can get it from most carbohydrates, sugar being the favourite. Used in Brazil to reduce oil imports, but not much elsewhere, presumably for political reasons, although these will doubtless shift as the oil runs out. A useful compromise is to blend it with petrol (gasahol) although this also seems to be out of favour. I suspect Dubya...
|
|
|
|
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/e8b6f8766b6d07870905d5a33787d785/491a7ccab99bdd291c85cda0d3209b1e.jpg)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/0b86a1b23dc2f8e0fbb8fdb8ca045b79/36a131877ae57db565285d7018cade57.jpg)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/dc97e6081281d174ccea3f986c2122bb/8305593b3800d09e8ee68d72cbf744d2.jpg)
