I'm guessing that The New York Times' creative title for this article has attracted the attention of many of you!
Initially I was drawn to this article by its title, but I really felt such a strong desire to post this article because I enjoyed reading it so much. This article excitingly communicates a new development in environmental science that has the potential to "become the fuel industry’s version of the personal computer!" The home ethanol-making legend Floyd S. Butterfield presents: a possible (smart) way to avoid automobile gas stations and their ridiculously high prices!
Rightfully so, his idea for a home ethanol system, called the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler, has been met with skepticism. I do not want to ruin too much of the article, but Butterfield's system has been criticized because the MicroFueler's fuel source (nope, not telling) does not cost much less than the petroleum used in commercial gasoline. It is hard to tell how easy (or not!) the MicroFueler will be for consumers to use when the final product hits the market. I'm also not sure how much success this machine will achieve because the machine itself costs almost $10,000!
However, all things considered, I am excited at the prospect of car fuel that will produce "one-eighth the carbon of the same amount of gasoline" when burned :).
Sunday, May 4, 2008
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While this device has excellent environmental implications, I also agree that the success of this device is very questionable. I feel that this product will reach a small audience: an audience that can afford the device and care enough about the environment to make the purchase. At this point in time (even with the high gas prices), I cannot see it being worth the investment in terms of reduced fuel costs. However, who knows, maybe with competition from other manufacturers the price of this device will decrease. We will also have to consider the rise in sugar prices as demand increases, and the potential for our country to support such large scale sugar production (as discussed in a previous blog post). Regardless, it's nice to know that there are people out there making an attempt to alleviate the problems we face with petroleum-based fuels.
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