It is well known of course that the rich and their descendants will be completely immune to climate change. Thus, many of them have been driving efficiency-challenged cars that carelessly drain the last of the world's oil, making their carbon footprint heavier than that of lesser beings.
So, from a climate-change point of view; who better to target with the security of their own driveway supply to power their gas guzzlers --from a carbon free fuel in place of oil? A secure supply.
Those who own bars, restaurants, breweries, micro breweries or are in the winery business could pump their own almost free fuel for life. Those who drive gas guzzlers could easily recoup the cost in a bit over a year.
How?
Because this home ethanol distillation unit cum driveway pump invented by the California company E-Fueler can distill ethanol from a nearly free feed stock; waste alcohol from vineyards or restaurants.
Currently, waste alcohol is hardly ever recycled commercially. Wineries, breweries and distilled spirits refineries can easily discard over a million gallons of alcohol a year. Even bars and restaurants discard thousands of gallons of alcohol annually.
A CEO of a brewery, restaurant, bar or vineyard could recycle the business waste product right into the Rolls Royce instead of throwing it out; making him forever free of foreign oil.
While still pricey after Federal rebates at $7,000 it is no worse than spending for a year of gasoline in a pair of efficiency-challenged vehicles, at prices from just a few months ago (that will likely return, as we continue the bumpy ride down the other side of Hubbert's peak).
Assuming typical annual driving of 12,000 miles each; calculate two 13 mpg vehicles on $3.50 gas would run a household $6,462 annually. Distilling ethanol from liquor waste runs as little as $0.10 cents a gallon, so the same 24,000 miles on waste liquor would only cost around $7, 185 including the distiller. The break-even is somewhere under a year and a half:
1. A year and a half of emitting more carbon $9,692,
2. A year and a half; with distiller = $7,277 (And then its pretty darn cheap. Almost free fuel.)
While the company also does offer a sugar/yeast feedstock of disputed cost-effectiveness to make the ethanol --and you hate to think of some greedy person pouring somebody else's sugar into their car -- any free/waste on-site feedstock is what will make an ethanol distiller sustainable. The key to making planet-friendly ethanol is to find a waste feedstock close to you and make that work. And although sugar is far more efficient than corn, it has many carbon miles to travel in most of this country.
Waste alcohol liquids like beer, wine, fermented juice and liquor are the perfect feed stock for distilling into ethanol. But whatever is close is best. Ethanol distilleries in Midwestern states make use of leftover wood chips and tree parts to produce ethanol. If you live on a farm, you can use leftover straw, husks and grain.
There are more spartan looking ethanol distillers for homemade-fuel mavens of a more down-home sensibility, but this one is designed to be simple and no bother. It has dials and gages to show whats going on, and how much fuel is left.
So this would be a fancy recycling bin. But a recycling bin that can dispense a very eco-friendly fuel for a fleet of vehicles. Indefinitely.
Published at Gas 2.0
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