<VV> E85 fuel -- solving the energy problems

[Paul Rollins]

At 02:44 AM 2/25/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:16:17 -0500
>From: Padgett <pp2 at 6007.us>
>Subject: Re: <VV> E85 fuel (NO CORVAIR)
>To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
>
>...
>For sheer energy, low cost, ease of manufacture, and renewability, nothing
>beats hydrogen ...
>Padgett


WHAT????????? Low cost?????? Ease of manufacture???????? This statement is 
more than just misleading. Although hydrogen is the ninth-most-abundant 
element on our planet and makes up about 1% of the earth's crust, there is 
practically NO naturally-occurring, pure, elemental hydrogen on this 
planet.  Even the gaseous atmosphere of earth contains only .01% free 
hydrogen, by weight. Hydrogen is extremely reactive, chemically, so it 
isn't lying around in pools, in a pure form, waiting to be scooped up in 
buckets.  In nature, hydrogen is found very-strongly attached to some other 
element or elements. That's why there is so much water on this planet. It's 
also why there are HYDROCARBONS. There are processes for freeing hydrogen 
from these other elements and isolating it in its pure form, but they 
consume ENERGY -- lots of it. It will take a new, low-cost method for 
producing energy to create energy to make the production of energy from 
hydrogen economically practical. The whole hydrogen argument is circular 
reasoning. This "hydrogen solution" is the twenty-first-century version of 
the alchemist's quest to turn lead into gold. Read a chemistry book.

The Ethanol solution is political -- it plays well in farm states and with 
agribusiness campaign contributors -- not practical. It is the energy 
equivalent of cutting the top foot off a blanket and sewing it to the 
bottom to make the blanket longer. Archer-Daniels-Midland loves the idea.

Don't swallow the promises that hydrogen, ethanol, etc. are magic solutions 
for energy independence. These are just politically-motivated 
pronouncements from our ineffective, generally-dishonest, 
special-interest-directed, U.S. government. Said government is primarily 
run by third-rate lawyers and other incompetents that can't get or don't 
want real jobs, and have no understanding of science or reality. Their next 
brilliant idea for solving the country's energy problems may be to have 
Alberto Gonzales petition the Supreme Court to declare all inconvenient 
laws, like gravity and those of thermodynamics, unconstitutional, and thus 
null and void. Don't laugh, the Supreme Court has already, at least once, 
ruled against scientific truth. See Nix v. Helden.

There are two, high-potential solutions to our planet's energy problems. 
But, they will require actual scientific research and technological 
development. Since these concepts are well beyond the comprehension and 
political time horizons of politicians and bureaucrats, don't expect to see 
any real, effective plans for solving the energy problems.

As individuals, we are quite alone to solve our own energy problems. 
Re-invigorating economical cars like Corvairs is a positive step.


Paul