Make Your Own Alternative Fuel
There are some great new products to help you make your own alternative fuels. But as with any new technology the cost does not come cheap.
Ethanol
The EFuel100 MicorFueler is a home brew fermenter. It ferments table sugar and yeast in it’s 250 gallon tank. The fuel is 99.9% ethanol and can be stored in the tank or pumped into a gas tank with an 50 foot accessory hose. It takes between 10 and 14 pounds of sugar to make 1 gallon of ethanol. This product will be available in late 2008 for a price close to $10,000. With the unit you will be able to make up to 35 gallons a week. This product will work on flex-fuel vehicles and even conventional cars if mixed with 90% gasoline.
Biodiesel
The FuelMeister II mixes vegetable oils with lye and methanol to make biodiesel. The process takes about an hour to setup and a total of 7 hours from start to finish. The fuel meets ASTM biodiesel standards and can burned in regular diesel engines. The price is $2995 but you can produce 40 gallons in 5 hours.
Electricity
The Envision Solar Lifeport can produce up to 6.4 kilowatts of electricity. This product works by having it’s photovoltaic panels wired to an inverter and then through your’re home’s electric meter. This setup will power the home but for those who like to do things themselves can turn it into a solar-powered carport by running it back electricity back to the outlet. This product is not cheap, at a little over 45,000 it will produce up to 6.4 kw and is compatible with plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles.
Hydrogen
The Honda Home Hydrogen Fueling Station uses a mix of natural gas, air and water that is catalyzed to create a gas that is 40% -50% hydrogen. The product filters out the hydrogen gas and then compresses it. There is no storage tank which requires a slow-fill approach that can take up to 6 hours to reach max capacity. Hydrogen from gas is not emission free and there is a several year wait for the product. The price is not available at this time.
