Stinkin' Al Gore Movie Affecting My Job

[Ben]

Well this stupid Al Gore movie has affected my job. As I may have mentioned in the past, I work with a load of environazis in a .gov office. I may have also mentioned I'm stuck with all the collateral duties that require useful skills. One of those is Vehicle Control Officer -- acquiring and maintaining our motor pool.

One of the biggest environazis wrote the following email to the entire staff:

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 I saw Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, when it opened at Paseo Neuvo on Friday night. I highly recommend it. And I am replacing my gasoline-run Saab with a diesel car so that it can run off of biodiesel, which is cleaner burning than petroleum. If you are interested in doing something similar, please ask me about it as I have made a few good contacts. XXXX runs their island vehicles on 20% biodiesel, and I wonder if our office could use vehicles that run on alternate fuels as well, as per the suggestion below in blue from an email dated May 18 2006. Perhaps we could get flex-fuel vehicles down the line? And in the meantime, maybe the [refers to a 68' research vessel] could run on biodiesel. I'd be interested to hear what the rest of you think and what is possible.

The "suggestion" referred to is an agency directive on energy savings -- too long to insert, but it basically says "try to save energy".
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My reply to the entire staff:

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 We tried the dual fuel route the last time one of these directives came out due to popular demand of the enviros in the office. Everybody talked big about saving the freakin' Earth, but when it came down to it, nobody ever put the CNG in it because it was too inconvenient for them, plus the car had an initial $4700 GSA lease surcharge for the extra purchase cost for dual fuel , above and beyond the normal lease fees. I'm not doing that again. My recommendation is to drive the Stratus when you don't need a big vehicle and to ride your bikes or skateboards to work.
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I got a bunch of whiny responses to this, but basically there was a CNG filling station 3 miles from our office. It was too far out of the way of the Birkenstock wearers, so they always just filled the "gotta save the Earth" car with gasoline. Plus one of our other vehicles is a Suburban. Everyone claims they hate it and that it's an awful gas guzzler, but when I do my quarterly vehicle reports, somehow it always ends up in first or second place for miles driven. Hmmm.

So basically Gore is creating a lot of shrill people telling others to "spread the message" on how to live, but from my experience, the real inconvenient truth is that all these enviro-whiners are big talkers, but when it comes to following their own advice, find that it is too inconvenient for them.

/rant mode off

[Nightfall]

Hypocracy is a cornerstone of left-wing ideologies.

[Iain]

Hypocracy is a cornerstone of left-wing ideologies.

That's a very silly statement.

[JAlexander]

Biodiesel's a great idea, but until Bio-Willie http://www.wnbiodiesel.com/ is on every corner, I don't see it becoming a common solution.  

Hypocracy is a cornerstone of left-wing ideologies.

Hypocrisy is a cornerstone of many ideologies, and I'd hardly say the Left has cornered the market on it.

James

[Ben]

Biodiesel's a great idea

I agree, and am thinking about trading my F150 for a diesel F250 next year. I would not at all be opposed to running biodiesel in it. I just don't like having it shoved down my throat. If they made a diesel F150 or Toyota Tundra or similar, I'd probably switch today (not specifically for diesel or biodiesel, but for engine longevity).

I was thinking about going to one of those specialty rental places and renting a Hummer H1, then driving it to work and saying, "Look, I've done my part!"

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

The Dallas PD bought several CNG powered Crown Vics a few years ago. On any given day, half are in the shop. Those that are driven require 2 fillups per shift, from news reports.  They have been removed from routine traffic and patrol duties because they're too slow in comparison to the gaoline-fueled versions for pursuit (we have those here from time to time) and because of the insufficient mileage range.

If the 2007 EPA emission specs were achieveable in the real world, we'd be wading through choices of small, efficient, powerful diesels in both trucks and cars. I'd love to have something like  Toyota Hilux or Ford F150 with a 3 or 4 liter diesel pulling 300 ft.lbs + of torque.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[jefnvk]

So what is the availability of biodiesel anyways?  I have a friend alwys talking about it, but more so because he is a Chem Eng and plans on making his own to skip out on gas bills.  Is it something that is widely available, or is it widely available in some osrt of mixture with regular diesel?

[InfidelSerf]

So what is the availability of biodiesel anyways?

Everywhere there is a greasy spoon

There are really two forms of "biodiesel"
The first is just straight waste vegetable oil (that stuff in the greese traps behind every restaurant)
With WVO you have to add a heated tank to the vehicle and a switch to flip between tanks.  
You simply filter the oil twice before pouring it into your heated tank.  No modifications to the engine are neccessary.

The other method is the slightly more complex one.  It involved mixing methonal, lye, and vegetable oil to produce a fuel that can be poured directly into the diesel's tank with zero modifications to the car.

[Nightfall]

Hypocracy is a cornerstone of left-wing ideologies.

That's a very silly statement.

Alright, let me be more specific. US liberals tend to be possessed of higher degrees of hypocrisy (sp error in original post, oops) than average.

[Guest]

I am in Iowa, MN just mandated the use of Bio in all fuel sold in the state before last winter.  By late Nov or early Dec they had to cancel the mandate as the fuel had all gelled in the tanks of the vehicles it was pumped into.  Not a problem if you stay above 50 F but that is definately not MN.

Elevator close to home was using it in all their diesel pick-ups, got to about -10 F and everything stopped.

At that time a buddy of mine recieved the notice from his diesel performance sources that they would not warranty pumps if Bio was used.  And it stated that they had been testing anti-gel additives and some would keep it in suspension but if it were to gel, the only way to get to run again was to heat to approx 80 F.

Even the Rescue 911 de-gelling solution couldn't get the Bio to thaw into suspension.  And this stuff will work on straight #2 at -15 that has been gelled for many days.

Price is great one for being against this, but that only shows how cheap petro based fuel is.  100 percent Bio is around $6.50/gallon when all things are considered.

At 2% is about the most harmless to every engine, there are plans to use 10% and up to 20%.  Above 20% fuel timing and quantity have to be re-optimized for performance and mileage.  

Basically I am not against it, just try to say there are some disadvantages to the switch.  

I am certain that some day it will be financially feasable with out the BILLIONS of .gov subsidies.

Sources are many and vary greatly.  if you would like more info PM me over at THR(same name)

[Antibubba]

Iain wrote:

Nightfall wrote:

Hypocracy is a cornerstone of left-wing ideologies.

That's a very silly statement.

Alright, let me be more specific. US liberals tend to be possessed of higher degrees of hypocrisy (sp error in original post, oops) than average.



Ah.  That explains why it is absolutely imperative for the United States, with all of the important issues facing us, to enact Constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and flag burning.  I sure hate it when liberals try bold-faced distractions like this!

[Nightfall]

Uh, that's not hypocrisy Antibubba. It's a lot of things, but not hypocrisy.

[client32]

If they made a diesel F150 or Toyota Tundra or similar, I'd probably switch today (not specifically for diesel or biodiesel, but for engine longevity).

I thought I remembered reading a few years ago that several manufacturers were investing in developing diesel engines for smaller that 3/4 ton vehicles.  I even thought I went to chevy, dodge, and fords website and all of them had something about it.  They all stated a diesel engine for the smaller pickup (colorado, dakota, ranger respictivly) was in the works.  I can't find anything like that now.  I guess all that went by wayside, or I dreamed it up.  Probably the later.

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

We gotcher small Diesel right here.

- NF

[Sawdust]

"the real inconvenient truth is that all these enviro-whiners are big talkers, but when it comes to following their own advice, find that it is too inconvenient for them.

Hmph.

Sounds just like the people in the town where I grew up (Santa Barbara).

Sawdust

[Ben]

Sounds just like the people in the town where I grew up (Santa Barbara).

Good catch.

[Iain]

Sounds a lot like people to me. People from pretty much everywhere.

Your small diesels are on their way. I'll have a report on one fairly soon, a friend picks up his new Audi A4 ragtop 2.0l diesel tomorrow. Ford sells small diesels in Europe, the older Focus had a nice TDci model, and I believe there is a diesel version of the Ranger on sale here. Definitely diesel Jeeps here. Chevrolet are making inroads over here too, and their line-up features diesels.

[Perd Hapley]

That explains why it is absolutely imperative for the United States, with all of the important issues facing us, to enact Constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and flag burning.

I just love how people say that same-sex marriage is a basic human right until someone tries to ban it,* at which time the whole issue becomes trivial.  Is there not something contradictory there?

Flag burning and homosexual marriage - government should neither ban them nor legitimize them.

*Of course, the proposed ban is not really a ban on homosexual marriage.  It simply assures that such marriages would be personal and social rather than legal.

[Parker Dean]

Your small diesels are on their way.

I dunno about that. We have a nice .gov to figure into the mix here.

While I haven't studied the issue in any great detail, I noticed while hanging out on some diesel pickup sites last week that diesel emissions regulations are to change dramatically here in the next couple of years. The word is that it is expected that the new regs will add several thousand dollars to the already steep diesel engine option price. Currently the price for a diesel adds about 5K and the projections were for anything from 8-10K after the  new regs take effect. There was also talk of a power reduction. Add in the increased price for ULSD fuel mandated and it looks kinda rough for diesels in the US over the short term.

[client32]

Iain, you will have to remind me.  Where are you?

I noticed while hanging out on some diesel pickup sites last week that diesel emissions regulations are to change dramatically here in the next couple of years.

A friend n te trucking proffesion was telling me that sales are going to sky rocket when the 2007 trucks hit the street.  Supposedly, sometime in 2007 they are going to have to put some type of emmision thingy on the trucks.  Adding money, worsening fuel economy and engine longevity.  Everyone wants to get their new truck before the law goes into effect.

I have done no research on the topic and probably wasn't listening very well, so please don't go buy stock on my account.