Obama to announce plans to fund alternative fuel research

[gamegetter]

“I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an energy security trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good,” Obama said in the State of the Union address. “Let’s … free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long.

Obama Energy Security Trust - chicagotribune.com

 

[Brake Weight]

He's an idiot. What we need to do for the time being is start producing vehicles that run off of natural gas. Almost every state in the union is sitting on some form of natural gas that is producible. Lessen the dependency of oil and give these 'cleaner, greener' forms of transportation a chance to come to fruition. Clean/green can't compete financially with big oil at a common folk level. As a nation, we can not quit oil cold turkey. We need to be weaned off of it.

Food for thought:


This truck probably gets 16-19 mpg on diesel. Converted to natural gas would most likely get more power with a few modifications.


The gubmint needs to meet halfway before trying to shut the tap.

 

[Shadowman2]

He's an idiot. What we need to do for the time being is start producing vehicles that run off of natural gas. Almost every state in the union is sitting on some form of natural gas that is producible. Lessen the dependency of oil and give these 'cleaner, greener' forms of transportation a chance to come to fruition. Clean/green can't compete financially with big oil at a common folk level. As a nation, we can not quit oil cold turkey. We need to be weaned off of it.

If I didn't misread you, aren't you saying the same thing as Obama is proposing? The biggest problem with building cars to run on natural gas is the "design/building expense" and the probability of anyone actually coughing up the money to buy them. Most, if not all, Taxi's in Las Vegas were converted over to propane a number of years ago. That's not an enormous expense to convert. Not the same as what it would take to use natural gas. Cheaper fuel, but, at the expense of larger, heavier tanks resulting in reduced mileage. I think his proposal is a step in the right direction, but, have serious doubts of ever getting it past supporters of the oil industry.

 

[Watergate]

If I didn't misread you, aren't you saying the same thing as Obama is proposing? The biggest problem with building cars to run on natural gas is the "design/building expense" and the probability of anyone actually coughing up the money to buy them. Most, if not all, Taxi's in Las Vegas were converted over to propane a number of years ago. That's not an enormous expense to convert. Not the same as what it would take to use natural gas. Cheaper fuel, but, at the expense of larger, heavier tanks resulting in reduced mileage. I think his proposal is a step in the right direction, but, have serious doubts of ever getting it past supporters of the oil industry.

For $1475 I converted the wifes Explorer to CNG. It has less power on natural gas, and CNG stations are rare outside of our area, but we compress our own at the house. $0.53 cents per gallon with the latest rate hike from the gas company. Plus we can flip a switch on the dash and go right back to gasoline on the fly. It's not hard to do or all that expensive. And it's not an impractical electric car or wind up toy like the Prius. Obama isn't going to focus on CNG. He's looking to kill the internal combustion engine like the rest of those ecomentalists.

Speaking of government idiocy the kits you could once buy for fairly cheap are now required to be EPA certified. The price had doubled last I checked.

 

[Shadowman2]

For $1475 I converted the wifes Explorer to CNG. It has less power on natural gas, and CNG stations are rare outside of our area, but we compress our own at the house. $0.53 cents per gallon with the latest rate hike from the gas company. Plus we can flip a switch on the dash and go right back to gasoline on the fly. It's not hard to do or all that expensive. And it's not an impractical electric car or wind up toy like the Prius. Obama isn't going to focus on CNG. He's looking to kill the internal combustion engine like the rest of those ecomentalists.

Speaking of government idiocy the kits you could once buy for fairly cheap are now required to be EPA certified. The price had doubled last I checked.

That conversion would be extremely interesting. I'll have to do some research on that process. What kind of mileage do you see with CNG?

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Beware because it has a socialist agenda associated with it.
Manipulation and control. Do you know that the liberal elite considers the populace as nothing more than cattle they can control by removing all alternative choices other than the ones they have planned for us.
http://m.guardiannews.com/books/2008/jul/20/politics.society1
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/45961/

 

[hookedon6]

for a guy thats never had a real job, or had to meet a payroll deadline, he sure likes to give away other peoples money.:headbang

but since he has been president, his personal wealth has increased from $200,000 to over $10 MILLION.

 

[Brake Weight]

There are several companies making conversions kits. Most all use/need a carburetor and some are switchable from gasoline to compressed gas. Rock crawlers have been using converted engines for years because it still runs when sideways and/or upside down.

Some makers of kits won't sell you their product unless you state it is for a truck. They don't wont the liability of you having a pressurized gas tank in the trunk.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

for a guy thats never had a real job, or had to meet a payroll deadline, he sure likes to give away other peoples money.:headbang

but since he has been president, his personal wealth has increased from $200,000 to over $10 MILLION.

I thought his personal earnings were around $5,000,000 a year

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Alternative fuels would be nice as long as it doesn't mess with A. Quarter mile times,B.limit my distance I can drive,C.milieage,D.get nudged into the progressive's dream(crazy)of an utopia. I would like to be able to get straight gasoline without the ethanol for once.

 

[W5LZ]

I'm sure the idiot has had a 'good' idea at some time, and I'm sure that this idea isn't his. Some day, someone will probably point out one of the idiot's good ideas to me. I will patiently wait for that day.
The alternate fuel thingy isn't new by any means. I know that the CNG thingy has been around for over 50 years, and hopefully 'they've' fixed some of the problems associated with it.
Personally, I think this 'alternate fuel' thingy is just a means of distracting attention from some of the idiot's other mistakes. Some of those mistakes can't be corrected which is very unfortunate. Oh well...
- 'Doc

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

I'm sure the idiot has had a 'good' idea at some time, and I'm sure that this idea isn't his. Some day, someone will probably point out one of the idiot's good ideas to me. I will patiently wait for that day.
The alternate fuel thingy isn't new by any means. I know that the CNG thingy has been around for over 50 years, and hopefully 'they've' fixed some of the problems associated with it.
Personally, I think this 'alternate fuel' thingy is just a means of distracting attention from some of the idiot's other mistakes. Some of those mistakes can't be corrected which is very unfortunate. Oh well...
- 'Doc

Back in the Eighties my 81'chevette scooter got 41 miles to a gallon. My 81' Chevy stepside deluxe got 27 miles per gallon. That was the advertised mileage on the window stickers when I bought them new and they did exactly that. Why then are the car companies just now getting back to those kind of fuel mileage figures? Granted the cars these days have more power and have such creature amenities such as A/C. But why 30 years?

 

[Brake Weight]

Small diesels should be looked into harder also. Most any small imported diesel gets better mileage than those of the hybrids. There are other means than hybrids to reduce the 'carbon footprint' from burnt fossil fuels.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Small diesels sounds like a good idea for autos. My 06' Peterbilt has a Cat engine with twin squencial turbos and a Allison 6 speed auto trans. It get 1.9 mpg fully loaded,5.8 mpg empty at 55 mph,5 mpg at 65 mph. Maybe an Eaton 9 speed will help the fuel mileage.
Blastolene's Piss'd Off Pete - Jay Leno's Garage - YouTube

 

[Brake Weight]

Rumor has they'll be a small diesel domestic truck produced in a year or two. Maybe this will start a trend.