think tank forum

http://saabusa.01o.com/ajtk/servlet/JJ?H=thqi … =492104749

"This past January, Saab unveiled the 9-5 BioPower concept car at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show. This turbocharged vehicle can run on bio-ethanol (a renewable and sustainable fuel) or regular gasoline.

A BioPower model is already in production for the European market, and Saab is considering introducing a similar model to the North American market in the spring of 2008. "

I saw that when I went. Ethanol is kind of a scam though because it takes more energy to grow the corn, ferment it, and distill it than you get out, thus making it not renewable or sustainable.

Not true anymore. There's a new crop they use for ethanol fuel. It uses the entire plant(opposed to just the grain) and takes less to put in than to get out. I don't remember the name of the plant right now, but they had a special about it on NPR today.

Yea, it has something to do with a new technology that is converting corn, wood, grasses and other products into ethanol.

Is it switchgrass? My uncle actually did some of the first studies measuring switchgrass's biomass potential. Even if you break even, it may not be by much, and it's a tremendous waste of effort and time on society's part to turn, say, .75 gallon of gas into a gallon of ethanol. Even if it is a positive energy balance, it may not be reasonable economically. Farmers want this shit because it will shoot demand way up.

in spite of all that, isnt that one step further away from oil?

avoiding oil is overrated.

tolton is converting a diesel benz to biodiesel. he's making the biodiesel in his garage.

yeah some people use old frying oil from restaurants and stuff. I think that's cool, since it would just get thrown away.

I know a bunch of punks who converted a schoolbus to run on veggie oil and toured across the country in it. it was pretty amazing.

oil is penis envy.