Mean Green

All electricity production emits greenhouse gasses therefore electric driven cars will indirectly continue to contribute to the greenhouse gasses problem because they will require to have their electric batteries re-charged.

Nuclear generated electricity is practically carbon free but what is the end result of this type of production? The reality, exchanging carbon free air now for an expired nuclear reactor (life span 25-30 years ) which has to be decommissioned and cocooned away from the public for at least a hundred years, plus its bundles of radioactive fuel rods will need to be entombed for even longer in underground concrete facilities somewhere within our borders. who is going to be around then to find out if these sites are actually safe. Also decommissioning costs can far exceed the construction cost of a nuclear facility adding billions to the cost of the electricity produced.

Hydrogen fuel cars, one of the major problems involved with this fuel is its distribution and storage because it is either liquid or pressurized. This system loses out to electric cars as all you require to keep an electric car running is an extension lead to charge up overnight ( when economy rates apply) but having said that you are then back to square one – having to produce more electricity. There is also an overhanging safety problem with this method.

Hybrid (electric and petroleum) cars, are on the road at present and there is some good press written about them; however very little is said about the dangers built into these cars.Take the battery for starters (sorry!), most hybrid cars have new type batteries made of nickel and lithium.ion, both components are regarded as more environmentally friendly than the traditional lead based type, which constitute the majority of car batteries today. Although nickel and lithium.ion batteries are accepted as less toxic than the traditional lead ones they are known carcinogens and can lead to an array of other health problems.

Not a great deal of testing has been done on the human body but possible side effects include xencephaly, everted viscera, short and twisted neck, short and twisted limbs, microphthalmia, haaemorage and reduced body size. ( Source:- Teratogenicity and Embryotoxicity of nickel cadmium in Syrian hamsters, William F. Sunderma. Univ. of Connecticut ).

A further overhanging problem for the hybrid car is in the manufacture of their advanced electric motors. The rare earth element dysposuim is required in their production, the problem is that nearly all this rare earth element comes from China and Chinese home consumption is expected to take up the whole supply by 2012. There are only two other known sites where this rare earth element can be found, in Canada and Australia, but whether production in these countries will be sufficient and online by 2012 is questionable. A study by one of the green lobbies also contends that hybrids are not as fuel efficient as the latest diesels.

To sum up the above from the point of view of claiming to supplying environmentally friendly fuels we have:-

a).. Nuclear which admittedly is very near carbon free but the nuclear, potentially dangerous, footprint from each power station will be around for hundreds of years.(If any one of you has ever had the experience of living near a decommissioning nuclear facility as I have you will know this

is fact.)

b)..Hydrogen at the present time our technology is not sufficient to make this a safe viable option, and should therefore be ruled out.

c)..Hybrid here we have serious problems with the supply of scarce materials for the production of vital components and also medical dangers which could result in serious deformities of the human body following the use of certain raw materials.

We already have the answer to our vehicles providing a much cleaner carbon free environment via lower carbon gas emissions at the same time saving money with much improved m.p.g. in the low cost water to fuel conversion systems now on the market.

The term green vehicle is used to refer to vehicles that are said to be ‘environmentally’ friendly and provide sustainable transport. These vehicles are also designed to lower the costs of energy through measures such as alternative methods of propulsion, which is the most significant way, by use of an efficient vehicle whose engine consumes less petroleum or preferably one that uses other sources of energy that are renewable. Other proposed sources of energy include use of biofuels in place of petroleum. One can also create a green vehicle by maintaining their vehicle properly. They can do this by regularly changing the oil in their vehicles, engine turn-ups and maintenance of the proper tire pressure. One can also remove any items in the vehicle that are unnecessary in order to reduce its weight and fuel consumption. 

There are several types of green vehicles such as those that make use of partly renewable resources and partly conventional fuels. Other options available include the fuel and electric powered vehicles. Some examples of such vehicles include the hydrogen cars, electric cars and fuel-cell cars. The electric cars are said to be more efficient than the fuel-cell powered cars based on the wheel. This has made the battery-powered cars popular. Unlike the conventional cars, the battery-powered cars have fuel economy. Their batteries however require charging on a regular basis.  Electric cars on the other hand have costs which are related to the electric batteries. These provide a great improvement on the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere when compared with other sources of energy for cars such as diesel or gasoline vehicles. This is however dependent on the source of electricity that is in use. 

Other types of green cars include the hybrid cars that make use of partly fossil fuel and partly hydrogen or electric powered. These cost more than other types of cars but have a better fuel economy over a period of time.  The traditional conventional cars can be improved by use of renewable fuels which are mixed with the petroleum used in them. In some states in America this has been tested where the gasoline has some ethanol added. This has resulted in greener air in those states. For instance, gasoline can take a certain proportion of ethanol. This can be added to the gasoline in order to create greener vehicles.

Liquefied petroleum gas can also be used in greener cars. This gas is also referred to as propane. Vehicles that are propelled on this gas are likely to pollute the air less than those propelled using diesel or gasoline engines. In addition to being environment friendly, this fuel costs less than gasoline. Not all gasoline comes from petroleum. One therefore can use gasoline that is obtained from coal.  In addition, liquefied natural gas can be used to create greener cars. This gas is made by liquefying natural gases. It is ideal for fueling large trucks so that they can go on for very long distances without stopping for gas.

Record high prices at American gas pumps and continued trouble-brewing in the Middle East, Nigeria, and other areas of importance to the oil-driven economy have made it clear to Americans that we are in need of developing many new avenues of energy supply and production. In short, we need to reduce our dependency on oil, for it is ultimately finite and, frankly, the cheap sources of oil (not all oil-just the stuff that is cheap to remove from the earth) are running out. Energy consultants and analysts are insistent that cheap oil has “peaked” or is very soon going to peak. What this means for us is an expensive future-unless we can find new sources of powering our mechanized and electronic civilization, new sources which are alternatives to oil.

We must also switch to alternative forms of energy because our present forms are too damaging to the atmosphere. While this write does not believe that the global warming trend is much, if at all, sustained by the activities of mankind (in short, it’s a natural cycle and there’s nothing we can do about it except prepare for the effects of it), we certainly do contribute at present to the destruction of the environment and to things like air pollution with our energy sources as they are. Coal is another source of energy that we need to wean ourselves off of-again, it is finite, and it is filthy, and the mining of it is dangerous and environmentally disruptive. We can also explore new, streamlined methods for producing electricity that we presently generate so much of via hydro-power so that we are less disruptive of the environment when we have need of constructing things such as large dams.

Developing nations which have turned industrialized in recent decades especially will need the benefits of alternative energy research and development, for they are presently doing much more environmental damage than the United States. The United States, Japan, and some European nations have been implementing studies into and programs for the development of alternative energy sources, and are therefore already leading the way in doing less environmental damage. The developing nations such as China and India need to look to Japan and the West as examples of what research and development to give government backing and private investment currency to. We could also add great robustness to our own economy by being at the forefront of such alternative energy sources development and then marketing the technologies and services to nations like India, China, Brazil, and so on and so forth.

Biofuels from things like “supertrees” and soybeans, refined hydroelectric technology, natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells, the further building of atomic energy plants, the continued development of solar energy photovoltaic cells, more research into wind-harnessed power-all of these are viable energy sources that can act as alternatives to the mammoth amounts of oil and coal that we presently are so dependent on for our very lifestyles. The energy of the future is green.

We are not talking about gasoline, diesel fuel, or kerosene right now. An alternative fuel is defined as the choice of any fuel other than the traditional selections; gasoline and diesel.

What are the choices?

1.    Ethanol. Ethanol is a high-octane, low-emission fuel that has been used in racing for a long time. It is now made from renewable plant materials and can be used in normal vehicles. The bad thing about Ethanol is that it gets lower fuel economy ratings as opposed to gasoline.

2.    Methanol. Methanol has a high octane rating and a low emission of pollutants. These characteristics make it a great fuel to use in engines in cars. Since the 1960s, the cars in the Indianapolis 500, which is a big race that is held annually, were powered with methanol.

3.    Natural gas. Natural gas is a by-product of oil drilling and also coal mining. You can also harvest natural gas from natural gas fields.

4.    Propane is another type of alternative fuel. Another name for this kind of gas is liquefied petroleum gas. Propane is the gas that is made when natural gas and crude oil is refined.

5.    There are also blends of fuels. This is how we get fuels known as E-85 where it is a mix of 85% Ethanol and 15% gasoline. These are defined as mixtures between traditional and alternative fuels. Another blend is B20.

6.    Hydrogen is one of the more popular alternative fuels. Hydrogen is made commercially by refining it from petroleum. You can also make hydrogen by passing electricity through water. This process is known as electrolysis.

7.    Electricity is another alternative fuel. We consider electricity as an alternative fuel choice because it has been used to power the motors in electric vehicles. Electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular nowadays and they will be mass-produced in late 2009. Most people think this is the answer to our economy problem but what most people don’t realize is how expensive these electric vehicles are.

8.    Biodiesel is another popular alternative fuel source. This is an additive or even a replacement for diesel fuel. biodiesel is made from animal fat and sometimes vegetable oil.

9.    Biomass. Biomass is derived from materials that are biological, predominantly vegetation, these include biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

10.P-series. This is a colorless, clear liquid fuel which have between a 89 and 93 octane rating. P-series fuels are designed to be used in flex-fuel vehicles. This will become more and more popular as we see more flex-fuel vehicles.

This is just one list of the alternative fuels. There are many more out there we just need to discover them. Once a good alternative fuel is discovered that we can mass-produce very cheap which gets better gas mileage than our traditional fuel, the economy should start booming again.

Biodiesel becomes more and more popular every year. It’s popularity probably derives from the fact that biodiesel is so cheap and relatively easy to be made. You can make it in your own backyard or kitchen. It is far better than the original petro-diesel, it’s cleaner and better for the environment and your health. Let’s talk about the three options you have when running a diesel engine on biofuel.

All three options can be used with vegetable oils, animal fat or both (it doesn’t matter if you use fresh or used oils):

- You can use the oil as it is

- You can mix the oil with another chemical supplement like kerosene, or gasoline or petroleum etc.

- You can convert the oil to biodiesel

Using the oil as it is can be clean and effective. Not to mention cheap also. But you have to make modifications to the diesel engine so that it is optimized for vegetable oil. You can find pre-modified diesel engines where you can use petro diesel, biodiesel and pure vegetable oil in any combination. There are engines with separate fuel tanks and a switch, you fill one tank with vegetable oil and the other tank with original petroleum diesel. Then you just turn on the engine using the tank with the original petroleum diesel and after a while you switch to the tank with the vegetable oil.

Mixing the oil with other supplements is your second option. Because vegetable oil is thick you mix it with a different type of fuel to make it thinner so that it flows easily into the combustion chamber of your diesel engine. Remember that using petroleum or kerosene to mix the vegetable oil, is not a clean option though. You can make various mixes (for example 20% vegetable oil and 80% of another diesel fuel). Some claim that if you use such a mix you have to preheat the engine, others just start the engine and go without preheating.

Your final option (and by far the best, in my opinion) is to convert the vegetable oil into biodiesel. Because biodiesel works in any diesel engine without the need to make any conversion or modifications to the fuel system or the engine itself. Just fill and go. Biodiesel is a much safer, clean, ready to use fuel that’s well tested. This option unlike the other two is backed by thousands of short-term and long-term research and tests by scientists around the world.

Jatropha Curcas is a plant that offers an investment opportunity with amazingly high yields of return and is emerging as a miracle plant and a likely claimant as the king of the next generation of renewable energy sources because it’s berryies contain a quality green bio fuel.

The miracle Jatropha Curcas plants:-

(1) Are already producing a fuel oil that could is supplementing reducing mineral oil supplies.

(2) Are developed through Investment Funds that offer investors astonishing returns, such as 93% Annual return on investment.

(3) Won’t take over arable land used for crop growing because they thrive in hot arid areas.

Exploration for new oil reserves continues, but discovery rate is lower than current consumption rate. Experts may disagree about how long existing oil reserves may last, but they do all agree that it is being used faster than it is being found. BP’s chairman recently indicated that in his opinion, based on today’s extraction rates, there remains only forty-two years supply of crude oil left in the ground.

This paints a bleak picture for the future for nations relying on natural underground oil deposits.The chairman of British Petroleum is quoted as suggesting quite clearly that we are on a fast-track to complete depletion of our natural oil reserves. he gave a time span of well under 50 years at present usage rates. Oil experts across the world differ on the timescale but all agree on one thing:- It’s going faster than new reserves can be found.

It’s a dire situation, beyond doubt.If we can’t uncover more natural deposits of oil than we are using then one thing is inevitable. The oil will run out one day.

While experts do disagree on the time left before ‘doomsday’, no one disagrees that consumption is far outstripping discovery of new reserves. On the subject of the size of existing reserves, one respected figure, Peter Sutherland of UKs PB group put a time limit of just over forty years on the availability of existing known oil reserves.

A sobering thought indeed.

As if the prospect of running out of oil or at least being dependent upon oil suppliers wasn’t a big enough problem, there is also greenhouse gas emissions and global warning posing a threat. Not surprising, then, that there is considerable interest in finding diverse and renewable sources of energy.

The Indian government is well ahead of the rest of the world on addressing the oil and renewable energy shortages in a practical manner. So much so that they have committed 27 million acres of land for the sole purpose of growing Jatropha trees.

The Jatropha plant grows and blossoms in the swathes of land ill-suited for normal farmland up to 1200 miles from Equator. In these poor conditions it produces green berries twice yearly that are easily pressed to emit an oil of the same energy potential as crude oil. For years, until very recently it was viewed as a pest and only used for forming farm boundaries.

Within 5 years, airlines may be flying on Jatropha oil according to Boeing in a recent statement. The company’s director of environmental strategy, Bill Glover said that this could happen once clearance has been obtained from ASTM which is expected in 2010.

The normal habitat for a Jatropha plantation is around the tropics and on marginal soil without the benefit of fertilizers or supplementary water by means of irrigation. Under these conditions there are typically one thousand trees per acre, each producing one litre of oil every year. A small diesel car would be able to run on this production for a full year travelling normal distances. The tropical location of the plantations and the need for labour to tend and harvest the plants does in fact have spin-off benefits.

The benefit of this situation is that many farmers in the typical Jatropha plantation areas are living at subsistence level. By providing them with seedling and teaching them to cultivate and tend the crop, they can increase their living standards at a relatively low cost to the investor. The locals become self sufficient without the need for charity or aid.

It is through well prepared and well managed Investment Programmes that these third world nations could attract the Wrests’ investment for the Jatropha projects. The investors would be helping the poor countries to raise themselves out of poverty and energy-dependence at the same time as enriching the indigenous people and helping to reduce global warming. In return the investor would have the satisfaction that it is his contribution that has allowed all those benefits to arise and would he would be financially rewarded by a very significant return on his investment.

A UK Jatropha Investment company in the United Kingdom is offering a staggering 93% return on investment and claims that the Fund is insured against such risks as Acts of God and civil unrest. This company is open to receive investments from interested parties.

If you are type of person who likes to get in on the ground floor then find out more about the Jatropha Green Oil Investment opportunity by:-

Contacting Patricia Ellis in the United kingdom on +44 (0) 845 226 2931

Or Click Here to go to the JatrophaGreenOilInvestment.com website.