Gas price control

[Greg Hermann]

At 5:58 PM 4/30/01, Morten T Nielsen wrote:
>Hi
>
>I must say that $ 1.5 for a gallon is pretty damn cheap! I myself pay app.
>$ 1.- for a litre of 95 Octane with lead additive...that's sad!
>The future must be in hydrogen...what is the biggest disadvantages of
>hydrogen? - i've heard that it is the low energy pr. kg and the produktion
>of the gas that makes it difficult to be mass produced for vehicles!?!
>Must be a different story to program an engine management systems for a
>engine running on hydrogen ;-) Must be like starting all over...

H2 has several BAD disadvantages as a motor fuel. First is low energy
density (particularly in BTU/unit volume). Second is that it is extremely
difficult to handle and contain. (See Hindenburg disaster!!_) Third is that
it has a horrible anti-knock rating. Fourth is that it requires a _VERY_
large engine to get equal power  a hydrocarbon fueled engine (consider how
_VERY_ much oxygen H2 (MW of 2 vs avg. MW of 29 for air) would displace in
the inlet tract of an engine at a stoich mixture.

This is your engine on gasoline--this would be your engine on H2--ANY
QUESTIONS??

More to the point--consider that Shell Oil has _VERY_ quietly bought up
most or all of the oil shale leases in the Piceance Creek (pronounced
Piss-ants) Basin in far western Colorado (Rio Blanco County). Shell is
being _EXTREMELY_ secretive about what they are doing, --stuff like
staffing their project like an off-shore platform--two crews, working two
weeks on, two off, round the clock, and not even letting the propane
delivery truck drivers go up to the site--but solid, confirmed leaks have
it that they are working on using a new process to cook the petroleum out
of the rock. Said new process apparently involves using microwave energy to
heat the petroleum enough to shatter the shale, thus rendering the rock
pervious and freeing the petroleum. My own guess is that they are also
trying to figure out what wave-lengths/energy levels of microwave radiation
to use in order to "crack" the existing petroleum into lighter fractions in
situ !!! Something along the lines of crack it into decane and lighter, aND
then use fractional distillation to get butane and lighter for burning in
combined cycle, gas turbine top cycle electrical generating stations and
use the pentane thru decane for refinery feed stock for producinging
gasoline.

Seems to me that such a process would also have pretty direct applicability
to the tar sands in northern Alberta, as well, but I have heard nothing in
this regard.

Understand that the oil shale formations in Colorado/Utah/Wyoming hold at
least five times as much petroleum as the Persian Gulf region did before
they ever started drilling over there! I believe that the Alberta tar sands
also hold a reserve which is a multiple of what exists in the Gulf region!

Your comment about "the future lying with hydrogen" implies a "green" bias!
(Which, as indicated by the above comments, indicates a problem with head
buried in sand!) First of all--water vapor is a far more powerful
greenhouse gas than CO2 is, something like 250 times moreso at high
(stratospheric) elevations! If you THINK that the climate is warming, then
you should first start agitating to ground all jet-liners (or try to
explain the difference between a (warming) high cirrus cloud and a
con-trail!!) Second--do whatever is necessary to stabilize the Middle East
to such an extent that a large natural gas pipeline from the Gulf to Europe
and Russia is a feasible project. Did you have a _CLUE_ that enough natural
gas is -FLARED_ constantly in the Gulf region to supply more than the
_ENTIRE_ needs of the USA???

Perhaps bedding such a pipeline under about 100 feet of black glass would
be a way to keep it safe from the likes of So-damn Insane and More-more
Ggoofy ?? I think you understand what the convenient way to make said black
glass would be!!??!! (Clue: Intense blue flashes are involved1)

Another source of more conventional oil reserves that ought to be mentioned
is the Fraser River delta--in the Vancouver/Seattle area. Many say that it
is geologically similar to the Tigris/Euphates delta region!! Guess what
that means??

If you are paying $1/liter for gasoline, that means that you are paying
about $2.50/gallon more in _TAXES_ than the $0.60/gallon WE pay in taxes!
Rather than complaining about oil company profits, I suggest that our ire
might be better directed toward the politicians who charge (yes, even US)
such exhorbitant taxes on our freedom to be mobile!! Doesn't seem to me
that actual PRODUCT cost for gasoline of a bit under $1.00/gallon is
particularly unreasonable! Perhaps we ought to line all of them up along
that gas pipe line from the gulf to Europe before "bedding" it!!!

Rant mode off !

Greg


>
>Cheers
>
>Morten T Nielsen
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from diy_efi, send "unsubscribe diy_efi" (without the quotes)
>in the body of a message (not the subject) to majordomo at lists.diy-efi.org


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from diy_efi, send "unsubscribe diy_efi" (without the quotes)
in the body of a message (not the subject) to majordomo at lists.diy-efi.org