Comments on: Home brewing for your car

By: Andrew G

Andrew G — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:20:42 +0000

Aren’t sugar farmers in the U.S. responsible for keeping sugar import prices higher than they would be without trade restrictions? Sugar isn’t terribly cheap right now.

Might be an angle to do some digging on.

The technology’s neat, though, and allowing consumers to make their own additives could circumvent all kinds of barriers. Props to E-Fuel.

By: Darren996

Darren996 — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:46:52 +0000

I doubt it would take that much electricity to run. It just has to keep the yeast warm and run the pump. It probably uses something like a Ronningen-Petter filter instead of an evaporator.

An unmodified gas car should be able to run up to 20% ethanol.

It’s a little pricey for me but cool. Make it a $1000 and I’ll buy one.

By: stocksandcommerce

stocksandcommerce — Mon, 12 May 2008 06:33:34 +0000

all viable alternative solutions combined, we can achieve fuel independency in about two decades (my own estimate).

VW recently announced that it would start selling 2-seat 230mpg car by 2010.

By: Terry in NY

Terry in NY — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:43:41 +0000

Does it run in a reg gas car? If so I’d try one!

By: desik

desik — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:54:14 +0000

Any viable alternative solution has to scale without the negative environmental or crop price impact we’re seeing with ethanol. The Micro Fueler is an ‘ ahead of the curve ‘ gadget and for all Tom Quinn’s reassurances of offsetting carbon credits this is a niche product that would cause more problems than it would solve if there was massive take up. We should welcome innovation though it just has to scale to be considered a realistic alternative to the bind we are in with oil based fuels.

By: Henry Gibson

Henry Gibson — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:35:40 +0000

It is almost a “FUEL CELL” that takes in electricity and makes car fuel.
In many places, a unit that made liquid fuel out of natural gas would be cheaper. There could be an add on unit that prepared CO and H2 to feed to bacteria that make ethanol.(patented process)

In some cases, Charcoal in bags at the store is cheaper than gasoline….HG…

By: Rob Safuto

Rob Safuto — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:21:00 +0000

How much electricity and water does this machine use? If this machine is electricity intensive, and it’s very likely that it is, then much of the gas savings will be offset by increased electric costs. And if a person lives in an area with a high percentage of fossil fuel power plants they could still be contributing to harmful emissions. It’s also important to note that a gallon of ethanol yields less mileage than you get out of a gallon of gasoline.