Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 22:55:19 -0700
Reply-To: Zoltan Kuthy <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Zoltan Kuthy <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Subject: Ethanol Production in South Africa
In-Reply-To: <482512FB.4060601@charter.net>
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Syntethic fuel is what they use in South Africa. The shah of Iran was a
good friend of SA and has supported the apartheid country, his father has
died there in exile. BTW the king of Albania was living a few blocks from
me also.
Anyway, when the shah was deposed by the ayatollahs and started the chaos of
the oilfields, the gov. in SA has started what the Germans did before the
war, that is doing synthetic fuel out of COAL. They have some of the most
richest black coal fields there and they put two American made plants on top
of them, where I worked for three years, and I have seen all the famous
brand gas companies' tankers lined up and pumping gas there, like Shell,
Texaco, Total, BP, Mobil, etc. but they were still selling it expensive,
kind of like world gas prices. But SA did not import gas anymore and though
they had sunshine 24/7/360, they did not do any solar panel business those
days. They did heat their swimming pools, every second home had one, with
solar heater system though and they collected rain water often for watering
their lawns, half the year it does not rain there, and did some damming up
the rivers to keep the water from running into the ocean. Jack Nicklaus has
designed a real nice golf course by one of them with all the usual housing
development around it, but the lake is real pretty between the hills.
The carburators of the older cars could not take the new alcoholic fuel very
well and they gummed up, like my double carb. Mercedes. But later all the
cars' materials were competible and everybody was happy. BTW they
manufacture all the famous European cars there and export it to some parts
of the world.
Synthetic oil is also made there.
So, it is not a new thing at all, only here. We are sometimes one of the
last ones to enjoy what others already have all over the world, like cell
phones.
Cheers,
Zoltan
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 8:14 PM
Subject: Re: Home Ethanol Production
> We have two energy problems - mobile and stationary....... more of less.
> The transportation of our civilization must be fueled, and so must the
> immobile components of our civilization. The mobile components are going
> to be the most problematic, but maybe the synthetic fuel thing will
> finally arrive on the scene.
>
> As for the stationary components there will be many ways of producing
> and supplying energy. Carter installed solar panels on the White House -
> to point the way and demonstrate his commitment to energy conservation
> and solar power, and Reagan in his disdain for Carter and all his
> programs, had them torn off. I can't say enough nasties about that kind
> of mentality. - and it still plagues us today. We should have had the
> roof tops of almost every building in the country covered with solar
> panels by now, and most especially Government buildings. generating
> energy and reducing the need for fossil and atomic fuels for 28 years
> now, but the infinite wisdom of a president following Carter negated all
> that entirely. We are behind 28 years, and now we are beginning to hurt.
> But, it can still be done, with aggressive legislation to provide
> incentive and back up the effort. - We are faced with major changes in
> our life styles, and there are going to be a lot of aches and pains in
> the process.
>
> Atomic energy is another log term source we need to develop.
> Improvements in technology has made this much more meaningful for today
> than yester day, ergo greater feasibility of having many modern plants
> to produce electrical power without the problems of the past.
>
> I think we can master these problems, but we must be have the right
> outlook to do it. Example: big debate about global warming. Why is is
> happening? Some say it is because of greenhouse gases, others say that
> has nothing to do with it, we are just going through a cycle. Cycle,
> schmycle - who cares? The point is to be good stewards to our planet and
> do everything we can to help it - cycle or not. After all, this is the
> only planet we have to live on. Screw it up, and it will be the end of
> all of us.Some people don't really give a "............." ( you fill in
> the blank!!)
>
> It will take every person taking personal responsibility to do what they
> can, and quit just because some jerk person or other country is not
> doing it's part. That negativity gets us nowhere.
>
> Regards,
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
>
>
> Robert Fisher wrote:
>> It's an interesting idea. The more I read about the oil/energy issue as a
>> whole the more support I see for the idea that 'our' (the US/Western
>> world's) dependancy on oil is not going to be reduced so much by an one
>> magic bullet but by people converting their usage to several alternative
>> sources. That guy goes to bio-diesel, that woman switches to a bike,
>> another
>> woman gets some kind of hybrid, some other dude buys one of these things.
>> The 4-to-1 water to ethanol ratio is a huge obstacle, but if you could
>> efficiently capture and use grey water (granted that may be a big 'if'),
>> then you would be fine, I think. Look at your water bill for your daily
>> usage and consider how much of that is possibly re-usable. Just finding a
>> place to set it up would be an issue for urban environments and apartment
>> dwellers and such. I wonder if if can be scaled larger, and how much?
>> Then you'd have zoning issues, fire code compliance, keeping the
>> neighborhood kids and drunks away from it...
>> Still... (no pun intended). : )
>>
>> http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/make-your-own-e.html
>>
>> Cya,
>> Robert
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
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>
>
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