Home Brew for the Car, Not the Beer Cup

by azer | April 28, 2008 at 06:38 pm

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The high price of fuel is opening the door to opportunities that we've been unable to exploit in the past. Soon we will see a revolution in the sources and availability of fuels and electricity. At first the costs will be high, the efficiencies and resulting benefits not so high. Later, after a few years of refinements, things will get better - much better.

The highlighted article refers to a technology that's well established but not well-tried. Supply lines and support services don't exist yet - but $4 gas will push people to do what it takes to turn the dreams into reality:

Mr. Butterfield thinks that the MicroFueler is as much a game changer as the personal computer. He says that working with Mr. Quinn’s microelectronics experts — E-Fuel now employs 15 people — has led to breakthroughs that have cut the energy requirements of making ethanol in half. One such advance is a membrane distiller, which, Mr. Quinn says, uses extremely fine filters to separate water from alcohol at lower heat and in fewer steps than in conventional ethanol refining. Using sugar as a feedstock means that there is virtually no smell, and its water byproduct will be drinkable.

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