Renewable energy...........

[Pat McCotter]

Ford builds and sells flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) here in the US. They can run on gasoline or a blend of up to 85% ethanol (E85).

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Hmm, I wonder if the cow power concept would work with waste treatment systems.  Perhaps when they separate out the solids, they could divert them to a tank where they would produce methane.  Some of my friends here at UNH are working on trying to develop a way to use waste water to grow a strain of algea that contains a high percentage of oil in it that can be used to make biodiesel.  Wouldn't it be great if sewage treatment plants could be self-sufficient and make enough energy to cover all of their costs.  A side benefit of growing algea in waste water is that it would extract the nitrates from the waste water, making it less harmful when it is discharged back into the environment.

[KBCraig]

Ford builds and sells flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) here in the US. They can run on gasoline or a blend of up to 85% ethanol (E85).

Chevy does too, and they've been advertising the heck out of them lately.

[Tunga]

Tunga absolutly will not drive around on genetically engineered ethanol.

Pure Alcohol would be jush fine shank you.

Filler up sunji.

[mvpel]

PSNH is planning for a 12.7% rate reduction effective July 1, due to the completion of payoff of stranded costs from the state's electricity regulation restructuring years back.

I like the timing - last August we used 50 kWh per day due to the A/C, our bill was something like $250.

[Russell Kanning]

cool

At our house we have so much shade, we don't even have a/c. That helps make up for our thin walls in winter.

[Ron Helwig]

Tunga absolutly will not drive around on genetically engineered ethanol.

Better not be using corn based ethanol then.

[Tunga]

Tunga absolutly will not drive around on genetically engineered ethanol.

And all this time I thought your craft was powered by dilithium crystals...

Close.

Solid Hydrogen conducts all wavelengths with no resistance.

It's really cool stuff.

[Dreepa]

PSNH is planning for a 12.7% rate reduction effective July 1, due to the completion of payoff of stranded costs from the state's electricity regulation restructuring years back.

I like the timing - last August we used 50 kWh per day due to the A/C, our bill was something like $250.

Yeah and Unitil is going up as well.

No AC gonna happen in this house.

[Tunga]

Step one.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3333992194168790800&q=water+car+inventor+murdered

[Dreepa]

Nice video.... damn it what happens?

[Tunga]

Most serious scientists will tell you the solid state of Hydrogen can never be reached as it only exists at absolute zero.

This is where Tunga quietly laughs to himself. Um hmm. Sure. Can't be done. Don't bother.

Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Step Two.

http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/120399t.htm

Patent 5,901,556: HIGH-EFFICIENCY HEAT-DRIVEN ACOUSTIC COOLING ENGINE WITH NO MOVING PARTS; filed 26 November 1997; patented 11 May 1999.//

http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/21006/page/2

Maintenance of the steep thermal gradient requires an external source of power, such as an electric heater, concentrated sunlight or a flame?which explains why glassblowers sometimes observe the spontaneous generation of sound when they heat the walls of a glass tube (serving as a stack) in such a way as to create a strong temperature gradient, a phenomenon first documented in a scholarly journal in 1850.

[MaineShark]

FYI, I'll be moving to Northwood in the near future.  I'm a heating installation and maintenance professional, and I tinker a lot with efficiency of existing systems, installation of high-efficiency ?standard? heating plants, as well as solar and multi-fuel systems.

With a typical solar water heater, 50-60% of your domestic hot water can come from solar (more if you?re willing to increase your initial investment).  And with the new technology we have available, the panel only has to be within 90 degrees of south (so, anything from southeast to southwest is fine - at the extreme of that range, you lost 3% efficiency), and pitch is much less sensitive.  Actually heating a ?standard? home with solar is difficult, but it can be done.

I?m happy to consult with people who are designing new construction, to make sure that the design is optimized to take advantage of newer heating designs... forced hot air and standard hot water baseboard, which most home designs take into account, simply cannot give high efficiency.

I can also make changes to existing heating systems to improve efficiency.  Most boilers can be made at least 10% more efficient, with minimal investment, and significantly more efficient with a larger investment.

I?m currently looking into a new line of condensing oil boilers that promises 90%+ combustion efficiency, and high total system efficiency (ie, actual oil usage) if the heating system already is - or can be converted to - a low-temperature forced water system (eg, certain types of radiators, and most radiant heating applications.

Multi-fuel heating systems offer slightly lower combustion efficiency (not much, though) and are not typically suitable for residential applications (unless you use more than 140kbtuh), but commercial applications and some residences can benefit (applications can be pretty much as large as you like).  Basically, the list of oils that can be burned is much more varied than ?#1 and #2 heating fuel, only.  Waste oil generated from automobile service, food industry, or any of a number of sources (if you have a source for a certain oil, and want to know if it will work, just ask).

Dedicated vegetable-oil boilers are now available in sizes that work for restaurants, other commercial applications, and residences (roughly 80kbtuh and up).

Condensing gas (NG or LP) boilers are also getting pretty darn advanced, with dramatically-modulated firing rates (no need to fire full-blast just to take the chill off on a summer evening, even though the system needs to be capable of firing that high during the dead of winter) and adaptive intelligence that actually monitors your home?s heat usage and learns how best to heat your home, plus a host of other features and combustion efficiencies getting darn close to 100% (96-98 typically).  Gas may still be more expensive than oil (the gas itself still costs more, in terms of dollars per btu, even if you use less of it) but it?s close to breaking even, and would be my fuel of choice for extreme applications (say, up in the mountains) due to improved reliability (oil does not react well to cold temperatures, for a variety of reasons).

?Standard? oil heat still makes up the majority of my business, but these more ?alternative? applications are gaining ground, and I?d eventually like to start a company geared towards them as its prime focus.  That?s one of the reasons I chose Northwood, as it?s both a growing area, and very centrally located.  To get to the point of starting my own company, I?ll likely need investors, so anyone who?s interested in that should contact me to discuss possibilities.  And, until then, the company I currently work for is pretty flexible (basically, they are dedicated to one small area in Maine, so they have no objection to me working on my own in NH), so I?m able to offer my services in NH on a case-by-case basis.  So feel free to ask questions...

Joe

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Hey MaineShark, My twin brother is a HVAC technician.  He is developing a conversion to make a conventional HHO burner work with vegetable oil.  He is currently running his modified burner on 95% vegetable oil, and 5% HHO/biodiesel blend.  I'm heating my water with biodiesel.

[AlanM]

This is good. Anyone thought of making a generator fired by wood or vegetable oil?