Kibbles n' Bits.....n' Diesel
September 14, 2005 10:58 PM   Subscribe

Biodiesel - the best solution ever.
posted by Ron (40 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: double



 
It would be better if there was a picture of him scraping up a cat off the street and shoveling it into his Mr. Fusion processing device located on the side of his Honda Prius.
posted by Balisong at 11:10 PM on September 14, 2005


On that note, since biodiesel is picking up steam, Will there ever be a device that is part of your vehicle that you can load with any sort of carbon based expendables to power you around?

No more getting stuck in the woods without gas, pile in pine needles and tree leaves until you get back to civilisation where you can loas it up with plastics, carpet scraps, leftover dinners, meat and bones, etc?

What carbon based item CAN'T be reprocessed back into basic fuels using the biodiesel methods?

Are our old landfills really our fuel dumps of the future?
posted by Balisong at 11:16 PM on September 14, 2005


At first, I wondered what's going on inside this guy's head to lead him to the idea of dead cats as a fuel source. After a moment of thought, however, I'm fairly certain that I don't want to know.

Then again, I know some people who'd probably fuel their cars with orphans if it meant they could pay below two dollars a gallon again.
posted by truex at 11:17 PM on September 14, 2005


The US could use the bodies of executed prisoners to make this stuff. How many felons to the mile do you think?
posted by Pseudonumb at 11:24 PM on September 14, 2005


I bet this guy was just looking for any old quickly-decomposing biological material and hit upon the idea of roadkill (free meat scraps!) along with the other garbage and stuff he used. Then the news emphasized the "dead cats" part of the roadkill to sex the story up.
posted by Anonymous at 11:27 PM on September 14, 2005


On that note, since biodiesel is picking up steam, Will there ever be a device that is part of your vehicle that you can load with any sort of carbon based expendables to power you aroun

Back to the Future 2 was ahead of its time....er, ahead of 1985.
posted by Ron at 11:28 PM on September 14, 2005


"C'mon Billy!! Hurry up!! I've just burned off Grandma's left testicle waiting for you!"

Don't think that cemetaries won't be exploited before the municipal dumps are. Especially the poor and homeless. And the pound! I bet they are PAYING someone to render those animals and dispose of them. They should be able to take the highest bidder, pound for pound, for those corpses.
posted by Balisong at 11:32 PM on September 14, 2005


Err, did anyone read all of today's FPP's? Because this one deals with an identical issue. Oh, and the thread also has better links than an undersourced CNN story that's probably wrong. Inventor denies cat claim. But please, more newsfilter is always a good thing.
posted by Happydaz at 11:33 PM on September 14, 2005


News filter, maybe.
But it is the discussion that such small news stories drive that is why this is a worthy post.
It's even hard to draw political lines on stuff like this...
Now, contribute, please!
posted by Balisong at 11:41 PM on September 14, 2005


Contribute to a discussion about how neat biodiesel is? Why not use that other thread I just linked to? Talk about unsubstantiated cat claims that the original newspaper appeared to make up? Feel free. This makes me mad when newspapers do shit like this. There. That's my contribution. Happy?
posted by Happydaz at 11:47 PM on September 14, 2005


Glad you posted it here, Happydaz!

Why are they unsubstantiated? What's made up? Just the cat part? I didn't believe that you could run your car on ONLY dead cats. But it's NEWS to hear that virtually any carbon based product can be used in these refineries.

How would you rather the papers bring info like this to us? or would you rather not that the papers bring anything new to the scene?
posted by Balisong at 11:54 PM on September 14, 2005


“It’s an alternative fuel that is friendly for the environment. But it’s complete nonsense to suggest dead cats. I’ve never used cats and would never think of that. At most the odd toad may have jumped in.”

"Odd Toads the Fuel of the Future!"
posted by Balisong at 11:56 PM on September 14, 2005


But it's NEWS to hear that virtually any carbon based product can be used in these refineries.

From the page linked in the earlier FPP:
This catalytic technology will give the advantage to produce syntetic "light-fuel" out of any type of hydrocarbon containing raw-material like biomass (wood, straw e.g.), oil and plastics like PVC of PU. The low-temperature catalytic process produces syntetic light-fuel similar to regular Dieseloil (D2 ref EU Norm) without any Dioxin or Furan byproducts or poisoned outputs. The process is automatically controlled and the Units are build under highest quality raffinerie standards.


There's your news. This FPP is just Fark material.
posted by kyleg at 12:03 AM on September 15, 2005


But is biodiesel so crazy and awesome that it flips out all the time?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:05 AM on September 15, 2005


Balisong I guess I get enraged when journalists are so irresponsible. I make tons of mistakes in my job but I always feel wretched when I do. And I would never juxtoposition something like cats there just because it's an interesting source of biodiesel fuel.
posted by Happydaz at 12:12 AM on September 15, 2005


So... No use in duscussing it further. This is what we know. Anything you try and drag in here is triffle bullshit, and a waste of time for everybody. (man, that would make a great Metafilter: tag...)
You don't know where or how the next generation of fuels are going to come from.

It might be a biochemist undergraduate that has read an article on biodiesel and over production of ocean algae.

It might be a geologist, or hydrologist that finds a way to use the colder tempuratures of ocean bottom water to produce energy, or wave conversion.

But at least you have stifled any conversation of the subject with your wonderful.. um... personality.
posted by Balisong at 12:12 AM on September 15, 2005


Er sorry, no preview.
posted by Balisong at 12:13 AM on September 15, 2005


Don't try and justify a shit FPP with a discuss!

It was shit. It is still shit. If you want to have a relevant discussion go to the other thread. I didn't attack you, so keep my personality out of it.
posted by Happydaz at 12:16 AM on September 15, 2005


That above was really for kyleg, but since you're up for a fight, I'll meet you behind the dumpsters after last period.
posted by Balisong at 12:18 AM on September 15, 2005


Obviously a Grinspoon fan.
posted by fullysic at 12:23 AM on September 15, 2005


Balisong, this post was weak even without being a double. If you wanted to discuss it so badly, you could make your own with some better links. Somebody already did; you are more than free to talk about it there. A single-link newsfilter post, when the accuracy of the article itself is dubious, just really isn't worth the effort you're expending trying to keep it alive.
posted by kyleg at 12:41 AM on September 15, 2005


Somebody wanted to discuss it, and linked it. Somebody else wanted to discuss it, (me) and posted. Other people (you) would rather nobody posted, linked or discussed it, so you snarked the thread. If it's crap, flag and don't come back.
It really can't be that hard to pass over.
I, for one, welcome any threads talking about alternative energy, resourced, or not.

Other people would just as soon nobody talked about it.
posted by Balisong at 12:53 AM on September 15, 2005


Look, this isn't personal. I'm all for alternative fuels, reducing pollution, responsible energy use, and conservation of the environment. I flagged it when there were zero comments, and I commented because I couldn't believe you were making such a fuss when Happydaz pointed out the previous post. If you want to continue bickering, take it to MeTa. But there shouldn't be this many comments in a bad post.
posted by kyleg at 1:04 AM on September 15, 2005


could put the horse back in horsepower!
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 3:02 AM on September 15, 2005


Come kitty kitty.. daddy needs to drive to work
posted by mitocan at 3:08 AM on September 15, 2005


Balisong wrote: On that note, since biodiesel is picking up steam, Will there ever be a device that is part of your vehicle that you can load with any sort of carbon based expendables to power you around?

These devices were used during World War 2, at least in northern Europe. They are fuelled with wood, but maybe you can mod them to accept general rubbish as well.
posted by springload at 3:22 AM on September 15, 2005


"C'mon Billy!! Hurry up!! I've just burned off Grandma's left testicle waiting for you!"

Grandma has testicles? You must have a weird family.
posted by fixedgear at 3:37 AM on September 15, 2005


I've tried it and it really makes my engine purrr ... Thanks, I'll be here all week
posted by ElvisJesus at 4:43 AM on September 15, 2005


dead cats?!?!? C'mon, everyone know's that biodiesel can be made quite easily from used vegetable oil, and used in any diesel vehicle.
posted by TechnoLustLuddite at 5:04 AM on September 15, 2005


So, if I wanted to convert my car, where do I get the necessary catalytic converter?
posted by TheDonF at 5:09 AM on September 15, 2005


seriously, that CNN article sounds like they're trying to demonize the biodiesel community and keep the petrolium industry afloat (not that they need much help, but these fosil fuels ARE running out...)
posted by TechnoLustLuddite at 5:09 AM on September 15, 2005


It's all over slashdot, I guess the guy was misquoted you don't have to use dead cats.

Still using waste sounds like a really good way to solve our fuel problems...

However, Doc from Back to the Future totally though that idea up first.
posted by Livewire Confusion at 5:10 AM on September 15, 2005


So long as it comes from actual waste, then great. What we've got to keep an eye out for is the mega agricultural companies like ADM and Con Agra taking biodiesel over, and suddenly us having millions of acres of genetically modified corn tearing up the environment worse than any oil rig.

You've also got to consider the cost of manufacturing-- will we be using more oil to power the conversion facilities than we'll save at the gas pump? That's the current problem with hydrogen fuel cells. The extraction process has got to be efficient as well.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:15 AM on September 15, 2005


Then again, I know some people who'd probably fuel their cars with orphans if it meant they could pay below two dollars a gallon again.

First of all, I only tried that once. Second of all, it wasn't for the money, it was for the pure joy of causing orphans to combust.
posted by shmegegge at 5:38 AM on September 15, 2005


Great, another source of cheap fossil fuels. So America's love for gas guzzling, pollution spewing personal energy wasters is going to keep on trucking. Fan-fucking-tastic! Woo.

Please don't try and use environmentally friendly and biodiesel in the same thought process folks. We need to work on breaking our affinity with consumption, not finding alternative ways to make it cheaper and easier.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:55 AM on September 15, 2005


Dead cats? It is to laugh. Think about it: Anyone who was looking at using dead organic material to make bio-diesel would go to the fairly obvious source for such materials: the local butcher shop. The local supermarket. Places like that.

Con-Agra (one of the largest, if not THE largest) owners of feed lots in the US is investing in similar technology locally. They're a huge generator of organic waste, now they have a place to use that waste in an investment.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 5:56 AM on September 15, 2005


You have to bear in mind that orphans sit around doing nothing, make no contribution to economic output and are a source of waste and greenhouse gases. They would probably welcome an opportunity to contribute, and if they won't then to hell with them anyway.
posted by biffa at 6:00 AM on September 15, 2005


I was this close to proclaiming a fatwa against my neighbors 30 or so mangy cats before I read this article. Now their fate is sealed.
posted by LarryC at 6:11 AM on September 15, 2005


Great, another source of cheap fossil fuels.

Vegetable oil is a fossil fuel?
posted by mediareport at 6:35 AM on September 15, 2005


I don't think biodiesel is a solution. I'm pretty sure it's a compound. Salt water is a solution (like saline solution). Tea is an emulsion!
posted by Eideteker at 6:41 AM on September 15, 2005


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