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2008-06-15 Home Front: WoT

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol

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Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-06-15 09:06|| || Front Page|| [11127 views ] Top

#1 This also has the interesting implication of what if such a microbe existed before?

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-06-15 09:29|| 2008-06-15 09:29|| Front Page Top

#2 U.S. Congress votes to ban this "tool of biowarfare" in 3, 2, 1,...

Posted by PBMcL 2008-06-15 10:13|| 2008-06-15 10:13|| Front Page Top

#3 Let's elect them to congress. They'll do a better job then the current bunch of jackasses.

Posted by Hellfish 2008-06-15 10:16|| 2008-06-15 10:16|| Front Page Top

#4 Personally I prefer electric ....

One of my electrical engineering professors was fond of saying, "Invent a better battery and you'll be the richest person in the world." He would also go on to note that such had been the case for several decades and yet no one had accomplished the task. Until and unless someone does abandoning hydrocarbons as fuels for vehicles just isn't going to happen.

Posted by AzCat 2008-06-15 11:42|| 2008-06-15 11:42|| Front Page Top

#5 How big does a battery have to be to contain the energy contained in a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline?

BTUs to Kilowatt-hours, anyone?

Posted by Bobby 2008-06-15 14:29|| 2008-06-15 14:29|| Front Page Top

#6 Bobby, it depends. Rechargable? Environmental cost? Financial cost? Size? The key is to come up with something in the price range of lead-acid but lighter, smaller, & at least not worse for the environment.

Bugs can be very useful - he says, as he sips a cold bottle of yeast excrement.

Posted by Glenmore 2008-06-15 14:36|| 2008-06-15 14:36|| Front Page Top

#7 Azcat: Until and unless someone does abandoning hydrocarbons as fuels for vehicles just isn't going to happen.

Did you happen to see this article on Fox Business News on May 29? (I know, the article also carries a date of Feb. 29.)
Coming By 2010: An Air-Powered Car That Costs Less Than $18,000

Posted by GK 2008-06-15 14:47|| 2008-06-15 14:47|| Front Page Top

#8 How big does a battery have to be to contain the energy contained in a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline?

35KWHs depending on the gasoline. But an electric motor is several times more efficient than a gasoline engine. Thats enough to power a passenger car 140 miles. You can figure a passenger size car will get about 4 miles from 1KWH of battery drained. The caveat is you do not want to fully drain most batteries or the life will drastically shorten. For instance the Chevy Volt runs 40 miles on it's 16HWH battery (88 miles for 35HWH) though GM is being overly conservative.

Posted by ed 2008-06-15 14:48|| 2008-06-15 14:48|| Front Page Top

#9 Mr. Pal's efforts will all be for naught when Holly-weird produces a sci-fi movie "The Muir Woods Syndrome" starring Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas. In this fright film Pal's bugs get loose in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and turn the forest to crude oil which pollutes San Francisco Bay. In reaction to this tragedy Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer demand that all research to convert waste to fuel be stopped. OPEC applauds their bold initiative.

Posted by GK 2008-06-15 15:01|| 2008-06-15 15:01|| Front Page Top

#10 #1: This also has the interesting implication of what if such a microbe existed before?

"Moose" I'm with you here, Oil as bacterial waste has a very nice ring to it, we're burning Millennia old Bugshit, not just the fern bogs themselves but the bacterial waste .
(Makes me woner if there was an advanced Civilization before ours, Glaciers have erased any evidence, either way).

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2008-06-15 15:13|| 2008-06-15 15:13|| Front Page Top

#11 GK - I'd not seen that but it's both a wonderful idea and a wonderful illustration of why we should let the market develop solutions rather than allowing government to mandate them. But ye gads, a 75 HP automobile? That's barely half of what my motorcycle made prior to the turbocharger having been installed. ;)

Purely my opinion but I've always thought that electric vehicles would be of limited utility until they were able to clear a couple of benchmarks: a) 300 miles per charge; b) 10 minute full recharge; and c) cost of ownership equal to or less than an equivalent gasoline or diesel powered vehicle. In other words, you really have to build it so that it can be used just like a vehicle that features an internal combustion engine. Otherwise people will have to buy a couple of electrics for their commutes but still maintain a separate vehicle for trips. Not very cost effective that.

Cost of ownership is a bit sticky. From the details I've seen of late hybrids are running $3.5 - $5k or more higher than comparable gasoline powered vehicles and require replacement of their battery packs at regular intervals. Said battery packs are $3.5k (wholesale cost to purchase Prius batteries) and up. From a total cost of ownership perspective even hybrids don't yet make economic sense. They're a fine idea but they're going to have to be truly competitive if they're to succeed.

Posted by AzCat 2008-06-15 15:13|| 2008-06-15 15:13|| Front Page Top

#12 GK, That "Air powered Car" has some serious drawbacks, mainly temperature, it freezes up and has to be heated to work, fine in a hot climate, lousy in all northern states and Canada.(And wherever it's near freezing outside, kinda eliminates mountain areas)

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2008-06-15 15:27|| 2008-06-15 15:27|| Front Page Top

#13 None of the Prius battery packs sold in America (Gen 2 and 3) have had to be replaced. They also come with a 100,000 mile warranty. If you damage the battery pack in an accident, a new replacement battery pack will run $3,000 including the 100% markup, used less than $1000.

Posted by ed 2008-06-15 15:31|| 2008-06-15 15:31|| Front Page Top

#14 it freezes up and has to be heated to work

I believe that's one of the problems the secondary burner is supposed to solve. You also get free air conditioning from the expanding air.

Posted by ed 2008-06-15 15:37|| 2008-06-15 15:37|| Front Page Top

#15 None of the Prius battery packs sold in America (Gen 2 and 3) have had to be replaced.

That's pretty impressive given that they were introduced in 2001. My car battery usually doesn't get more than 5 years.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-06-15 15:41|| 2008-06-15 15:41|| Front Page Top

#16 The Toyota engineers have found little degradation after 150,000 miles. Batteries are killed by either draining to 0% or over charging or extreme temp variation. The Prius tries to keep it's battery charge somewhere in the middle.

Posted by ed 2008-06-15 15:58|| 2008-06-15 15:58|| Front Page Top

#17 Wonder what the little buggers would excrete if they ate Congresswaste?

Posted by OyVey 1 2008-06-15 16:06|| 2008-06-15 16:06|| Front Page Top

#18 The high price of gasoline may be a case of turning lemons into lemonade. It may just be the impetus needed to get us away from OPEC and middle east oil. Faster please. If the money is cut off to the mid east for oil we might see much of the large-scale organized terrorism such as created 911 dry up without oil money.

Posted by JohnQC 2008-06-15 17:00|| 2008-06-15 17:00|| Front Page Top

#19 Come on you guys you are so slow.

NO BUGS FOR OIL!!

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2008-06-15 18:13|| 2008-06-15 18:13|| Front Page Top

#20 Bugs eat Bugger All and Produce Gas

That makes a nice headline, heh.

Posted by Alaska Paul back home 2008-06-15 18:25|| 2008-06-15 18:25|| Front Page Top

#21 None of the Prius battery packs sold in America (Gen 2 and 3) have had to be replaced.

That is indeed very impressive. I'm aware that manufacturers are claiming 150-200k mile lifetimes for hybrid battery packs but with relatively little long-term data I'll remain a skeptic for a bit yet. Besides, I think I can get another 500-600k out of my M/B land yacht and by that time I'll be dead so I'll probably never face a hybrid buying decision that's anything other than a curiosity. ;)

The high price of gasoline may be a case of turning lemons into lemonade.

Yes but it has a fairly limited shelf-life. Just as alternatives begin to come into their own the oil bubble will burst and once again rearrange the economics of energy. I continue to believe that current oil prices are a bit of a perfect storm rather than a true supply and demand issue.

Posted by AzCat 2008-06-15 18:28|| 2008-06-15 18:28|| Front Page Top

#22 Oh and ed - I think $3k w/100% markup is a bit optimistic. Toyota dealers have stated $4.5k and I've heard folks say that Toyota mechanics claim the part alone costs the dealership $3k. I will grant though that those may be dated numbers.

Posted by AzCat 2008-06-15 18:30|| 2008-06-15 18:30|| Front Page Top

#23 If none have failed, they may have a few in inventory.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-06-15 18:45|| 2008-06-15 18:45|| Front Page Top

#24 HMMMMM, so BLADDER UNNER is also RAID RUNNER [bug can] - Humanity intentionally dev Tokyo-destroying BUG-ZILLA(S) as fuel for cars???

JOHN BELUSHI > "WAS IT OVER WHEN THE BUGS SMASHED PEARL HARBOR, AND IT TAINT OVER NOW...LETS DOOOOOOOOOOO IIIIIITTTT"!

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-06-15 20:18|| 2008-06-15 20:18|| Front Page Top

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