[Diy_efi] Is E85 worth it?

[Steve Ravet]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: diy_efi-bounces at diy-efi.org 
> [mailto:diy_efi-bounces at diy-efi.org] On Behalf Of WSCowell at aol.com
> Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 1:38 AM
> To: diy_efi at diy-efi.org
> Subject: Re: [Diy_efi] Is E85 worth it?
> 
>  
> In a message dated 02/09/2006 00:46:42 GMT Standard Time, 
> spyro at f2s.com
> writes:
> 
> If  you've found a 1.9 litre diesel with worse emissions than 
> an 8 litre petrol engine, I would respectfully suggest that 
> you might have chosen a spectacularly crappy example of a 
> diesel  engine...

That may be.  There aren't (fortunately IMO) a lot of passenger car
diesels to chose from here in the US, so I picked the Jetta.  It is, in
fact, the only diesel passenger car I can name off the top of my head.
Maybe European spec diesels are better.  Here's a homework assignment
for the Eurpoean diesel fans.  Go to the European equivalent of the US
EPA and find the certified emission levels for the least polluting
diesels, then come back here and let us know what models they are and
how well they do.  Also, I think it was a 6.0L or 5.3L SUV I compared
to, not an 8.0L SUV.  I don't think you can get an 8 liter light truck
or SUV,  even in the US :-)

> 
> 
> 
> Good point there, **plus**:
>  
> Bio diesel is cheaper than diesel from petroleum, lubricates 
> the engine and injection pump better and kicks out greatly 
> reduced emissions of all the nasty
>  stuff:  NOx, S, CO and the harmful carcinogens and 
> particulates.  

NOx comes from the N2 and O2 in the atmosphere, not the fuel.  It's
produced by the high diesel combustion temperatures, which in turn come
from the high compression ratio.  Maybe biodiesel affects this but it's
not obvious to me.  Can you document the claims for reduced pollution
from particulates?

As far as being cheaper, that only means that the tax/subsidy ratio is
different for biodiesel than regular diesel.  There is nothing like a
free market in energy, anywhere on the earth, so the "price" of energy,
especially when used to compare one energy source to another, is
meaningless.

> The  best thing is it is totally 
> carbon-neutral - it only puts back into the  atmosphere the 
> carbon the plant took out in the first place.  Performance  
> is totally unaffected.

Leaving aside that human contributions to atmospheric carbon don't
matter in the slightest, the carbon in refined diesel wasn't channeled
in from the asteroid belt, it came from the earth same as all the other
carbon.

>  
> So a decently set-up turbo diesel is good news all round.  
> Let's not  forget what JCB achieved just last week at 
> Bonneville (British - hooray!) and  Audi at Le Mans either.
>  
> Poor performance from a diesel?  Wake up and smell the  coffee!

I never commented on the performance of a diesel, just it's polluting
nature.

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