AutoblogGreen gets special delivery of Sundance's The Green promo clips
Sundance's The Green premieres Monday and the folks who have been working hard to bring A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash to your screens next week have slipped us three promos for the show. You can watch them edited together in the clip up above. They're about ethanol in Indy cars and biodiesel from waste cooking oil.
We also got a copy of the full first show to review, and we'll have our thoughts on the documentary on the final years of this non-renewable resource soon.
And, while digital distribution at least doesn't make for any paper waste, the entire promotion campaign is not as green as it might be, says Ecorazzi.
Related:
[Source: Sundance Channel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 10:30AM (4/12/2007)
(a) Deep fried chicken is a good example of why Americans need to drive in such large vehicles to begin with. There is, btw, rarely enough available waste vegetable oil to power more than a tiny fraction of the total vehicle fleet. It is not a scalable solution for America's transportation energy needs.
(b) Diesel engines can run on vegetable oil for a while. However, doing so with a modern engine featuring high-pressure injectors and an advanced turbocharger system could prove expensive. A recent AutoBild test using a stock VW Golf Diesel ended with a blown turbo and cavitation damage on the injectors after just a few thousand miles.
(c) Vegetable oil only works as a fuel if it is liquid. In cold weather, it turns solid and must be melted first. It's also a bad idea to use vegetable oil when the engine is still cold. This means any vehicle that will be run on vegetable oil needs an additional small fuel tank for petrodiesel and a means to switch between the tanks.
(d) Vegetable oils and animal fats are triglycerides. A triglyceride molecule consists of three long hydrocarbon chains yoked together by a glyceride bridge. This means oxygen has a harder time getting to the carbon-carbon bonds during combustion than is the case with single hydrocarbon chains. The result is increased particulate emissions from the engine, these are suspected of being carcinogenic. If you have a DPF, these additional emissions will be cleaned up but the life expectancy of the device may be reduced.
Biodiesel is made by breaking up triglyceride molecules into three single chains plus a by-product (glycerol) in a process called transesterification. This involves adding methanol and cooking the batch at elevated pressure and temperature. Biodiesel is similar to petrodiesel but a better solvent. The seals and hoses in your fuel system need to be up to the task. Most diesel vehicles in the US can handle B20 without any retrofits. You'll need to exchange the fuel filter soon after cutting over because the biodiesel cleans out the accumulated crud in the fuel tank.
Pure biodiesel (B100) is susceptible to contamination by fungi and may corrode the fuel tank. Blends above B99 are not recommended.
(e) Always check with your dealer before messing with your vehicle's fuel or switching ot long-life engine oils.
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Jimmy 11:27AM (4/12/2007)
"check with your dealer before messing with your vehicle's fuel"
You have got to be kidding. Auto dealers are in general the least friendly to alternative fuels. Dealerships have advised people not to use E85 in their factory FlexFuel vehicles! Finding a dealer that will recommend biodiesel, even the commercial ASTM B20, is rare
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