Alt fuels was Re: [AT] Gasoline $

Henry Miller hank at millerfarm.com
Thu Aug 11 20:56:33 PDT 2005


On Thursday 11 August 2005 09:31 am, Cecil Monson wrote:

> 	One thing is such a shame that it has bothered me for years.
> At one time we had the finest railroad system in the world and we have
> allowed it to be almost totally dismantled except for mainline freight
> and high speed rail commuter networks. Instead of one or two locomotives
> pulling 150 cars of freight, we now have 150 trucks, each with it's own
> diesel engine, pulling one truck apiece. INHO, a needless and senseless
> waste of fuel. Yes, we need trucks for local delivery but not the large
> over the road trucks we have today on our Interstate highways. Much of
> our fuel cost is in the form of taxes to pay for repair and maintenance
> of the superhighways necessary to support all these trucks. Yes, I know
> they also pay extra taxes but I am basically talking about using fuel
> here and not about cost.
>

It may come as a surprise to you, but we still do have the finest rail system 
in the world.  The US sends 42% of our ton/miles of freight by rail!   Europe 
is generally about half, and Japan doesn't do much either.   (this number is 
increasing)

However in the US we send essentially no passanger traffic by rail, which is 
what those countries are wasting their rails on.    Sure it uses less fuel, 
but people take more space, and cannot handle delays like freight can.    
Passanger cars carry mostly air, freight cars are often full.

Trains are about 3 times as efficient as trucks, the equivelent of 21mpg.   
(Semi's typically get about 7mpg.   Wind resistance is the largest factor in 
this, so it doesn't matter much if the semi is fully loaded or empty.   I 
agree that we need more trains.   

> 	As to fuel prices, I think the rise in price is just starting.
> China is building cars and trucks faster than we are at the moment and
> needs them. They are going to be one of the largest consumers of fuel
> in the world, if not the largest by far - but only for as long as it
> lasts. China will go back to walking where they want to go and carrying
> produce on their heads in baskets if necessary but I doubt it would ever
> work out for us. Prices will rise considerably according to supply and
> demand which is the system we use in the world today. I don't look for
> them to come down at all as there is no extra supply to cut prices on.
> So, they can only go up and that is what will happen. Maybe rationing
> will help, and you can be sure it will be on the agenda before too long,
> but I doubt it.

Which is why I recommend ethanol to everyone.   If you cannot get with 5% of 
the previous gas milage when switching to ethanol, it is your own stupid 
fault for doing a bad conversion.    Of course changing pistons is more 
complex than most people are willing to do.   Don't blame ethanol though.  



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