Reply #23: I just filled up with 'B100'

[cprise]

That's 100% biodiesel, and I'm loving every mile-- I'm driving fossil-free!

This fuel is approx. doubling in use every year, but is still dismissed as "unsuitable" for the long-term. The thinking goes that so few people use it, there will never be enough capacity (the exponential trend is ignored). Capacity for what, they don't say, but I think they're assuming the fuel must be able to supply everybody.

Actually, this is possible! However, it would require some large-scale farming of microalgae (probably in the Sonora desert) to generate that much oil. If lighter vehicles are mandated (which the H2 people say much happen anyway for that fuel to work) and we reduce our waste a good 40% (diesel-electric hydrids, getting back to carpooling and the 55 MPH speed limit) then there wouldn't even be a challenge... you could have everyone on biodiesel in 7-10 years (and we could saturate the current diesel demand with biodiesel probably within 5 years, and this alone would have a huge impact).

That also doesn't count huge gains from using battery-electric cars in cities (believe me, after people start experiencing hydrogen headaches, they will view installing charging outlets in parking lots as completely trivial). The efficiency of a battery-electric beats even biodiesel.

Beyond that, there is also this assumption that IC engines are just, well... just, um... bad. That's where I was several years ago, and now I couldn't disagree more. There are two outstanding technologies in transportation in the forseeable future: 1) Biodiesel fuel in a hybrid engine (very long travel range), and 2) Battery electrics (short-med range). Hydrogen fuel cells aren't a very good concept for either short or long range, and they may never be.... it's not well suited to running a small machine on wheels.

Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html