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- coffeebot, on 12/15/2007, -1/+123There is nothing more American than a Hummer running on Freedom Fries oil.
- lisapham, on 12/15/2007, -2/+84The hacked H3 is a hybrid with the gasoline fuel system removed. In its place, Goodwin installed a biodiesel-burning jet turbine to recharge the electrical system.
- lirem, on 12/15/2007, -2/+67Using clever language that article avoids mentioning that he hasn't actually done it yet...
- fusuke31, on 12/15/2007, -3/+44Good grief. Just the other day I commented "What's next? A "green"er hummer?" after the report of a green (albeit @ 14mpg) Ferrari.
- kyouteki, on 12/15/2007, -2/+40I actually have heard of him...more than once...on Digg.com.
- Tusa, on 12/15/2007, -2/+34Calling his fuel capability "biodiesel" is misleading.
Biodiesel is esterified oil or fat, usually creating a methyl ester and giving a fuel that is much closer to traditional (or "dino") diesel you see at the pump. Biodiesel is generally fine to use in regular, unmodified diesel vehicles., up to 20% (B20.) Older diesels may see two problems with running 100% (B100) biodiesel:
1) It has much better "solvent power" than traditional diesel fuel. Expect to have all your fuel system gunk come loose and clog your fuel filter in the first 500-1000 miles. Replace the fuel filter when it is gunked up!
2) Many older diesels have rubber fuel system components which will be softened by the biodiesel (solvent power, remember?) - for example 80's Mercedes will need to have fuel lines replaced eventually when running 100% Biodiesel.
Straight, unmodified oil or fat is not biodiesel, and does not work well in many diesels, mostly because of the high viscosity (it's thicker, harder to pump and atomize. Think maple syrup instead of water.)
Being able to run both straight vegetable (SVO) or waste vegetable oil (WVO) instead of just diesel is a GREAT improvement for fuel flexibility - it just needs to be clear that SVO and WVO are NOT biodiesel. Much like the gasoline/ethanol "flex-fuel" vehicles, you have more fuel choice - but that still doesn't make ethanol the same as gasoline. - THEevangelist, on 12/15/2007, -5/+26Very impressive, but I would like to see it on the road. I wonder how on earth he gets Road approval for a car like that with such an enormous turbine inside it? Regardless, a great engineer and exactly what everyone in detroit should be doing!
- shodanx, on 12/15/2007, -3/+23Hi,
I make turboprop engines at PWC for a living
tell me why we couldn't make cheaper ones for cars again ? - Wolfboy, on 12/15/2007, -0/+16Tempted to bury as blogspam and maybe as inaccurate - 60mpg is the goal, so far it seems to still be in development.
Skip the blog, read the source:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead- ...
The H3 modder is taking out the H3's original engine and replacing it with a turbine/electric hybrid set-up.
He got started some years ago when he converted an original Hummer to biodesiel. He took out the gasoline engine and put in a GM diesel engine. He claimed it doubled the H1's power and doubled its MPG (from 9 to 18). Now the H3 modification is (or was a few months ago) his pet project.
You can hire the guy to convert your car to make it more "green" and more powerful. Here is his company's web site:
http://www.saeenergy.com/index.htm - brstilson, on 12/15/2007, -0/+14Biodiesel isn't made from food, it's made from fats and oils. You're thinking of ethanol. Ethanol /= biodiesel.
- Daedalus81, on 12/15/2007, -9/+23A jet turbine is not a feasible power plant for use in mass production of cars.
- rhedrick, on 12/15/2007, -3/+16Burying because there's no new content here - just a rehash of older articles.
- gcnaddict, on 12/15/2007, -2/+13It was verified by CNN...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/20/green.hummers/i ... - Qeveren, on 12/15/2007, -1/+11Are you sure you meant to say two million dollars?
- painted82, on 12/15/2007, -1/+11Does CNN really verify anything? They usually just repeat after AP or Reuters...
- chall2001, on 12/15/2007, -0/+9I was very intrigued until I realized he hasn't actually built anything close to backing up his claims. This sounds like a ***** perspective investment scam. It will do this, it will do that (at some later point in time after you send me your money).
He claims GM could make the switch overnight but he can't produce a single example? Ah yes, the smell of *****.
If so many on digg can get so excited about unsubstantiated claims I would like to introduce my new concept vehicle. Its twice as big as a hummer and gets 900 miles per gallon of H2O. Horsepower is somewhere between 2000 and 3000 and it can be fitted with rockets (which run on hamburger grease) to cross the Atlantic ocean.
Please send your checks to .................. - Incognito, on 12/15/2007, -2/+11WHAT?! NINE THOUSAND?!!
- JonnyTrombone, on 12/15/2007, -0/+7Actually, I think The Governator has the greenest hummer- he's got at least one that is a total hydrogen vehicle.
- fuzzynyanko, on 12/15/2007, -0/+7Yeah, we shouldn't take the unusable, nasty McDonalds used French fry oil and convert it to energy! We should feed it to the hungry! Sewer algae belongs to the starving!
- Frostman3D, on 12/15/2007, -2/+9I didn't digg you down for what you said, I dugg you down for a ***** attitude.
- sylvanis, on 12/15/2007, -1/+860 mph is the goal....it's not there. The article said it was up on jack stands....... nuff said
Plus what is more natural than oil? It came from dinosaurs which were here before us. The earth destroyed the dinosaurs, so all I am doing is avenging their deaths. - thedaylights, on 12/15/2007, -0/+7Here's the fastcompany article this blog post is based on
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead- ...
Submitted to digg at least 44 days ago:
http://digg.com/motorsport/MotorHead_Messiah_GM_Sa ... - funkyjunk3, on 12/15/2007, -0/+6Now there's a spambot if I ever saw one! Just check the history. Dugg down AND reported.
- inactive, on 12/15/2007, -2/+8We're not *****, once the oil is gone, they'll have to grow hemp. Cheapest alternative.
- Orlong, on 12/15/2007, -13/+19And Im sure that jet turbines are so inexpensive that everyone could buy one. Im sure they are also easy to install
- redDC143C, on 12/15/2007, -0/+6***** is still taking up two parking spots!! ;)
- funkyjunk3, on 12/15/2007, -0/+6Good Mirror: http://duggmirror.com/environment/The_Greenest_Hum ...
Diesel electric systems have been used for eons in the railroad industry. They are very powerful, and bringing them to the automotive industry makes sense! Kudos for having the gusto to build a green hummer! - Ramble, on 12/15/2007, -1/+6Turbines are fine. You say that they cost $10000 and I'll tell you to pop open your trunk and tell me how much your turbo costs.
Turbines generating electricity are one of the few ways to go. - 68024, on 12/15/2007, -0/+5Rapeslut... next on the list to be banned from digg...
- DontGiveADamn, on 12/15/2007, -0/+5Do you know what those super capacitors cost? We looked into doing a project at work using them but had to abandon it because the capacitors are much more expensive than any kind of battery.
- StingingNettle, on 12/15/2007, -0/+5What else people don't realize is that the metal in the frame of the Hummer is just that, pure metal with no fancy mixed aluminum aloy's so its 100% recyclable if the car is totaled or at the end of its life.
- pdbailey, on 12/15/2007, -2/+7Basically, he counts only the diesel, not the hydrogen in the MPG calculations--it's nonsense. I think it comes from the idea that hydrogen is free (somehow) because it comes from water and becomes water again--but never mind the massive amounts of coal burned to make it go from water to hydrogen and that make more CO2 than even a hummer would burning gas.
- funkyjunk3, on 12/15/2007, -3/+7Hobbyists can make cheap ones for FAR less than $100k:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pTUeuEv8Uc
- osbjmg, on 12/15/2007, -9/+13The picture in the article is not an H3, so it looks suspect just on that observation.
- inactive, on 12/15/2007, -1/+5Once we start mass producing jet turbines on the scale required to supply consumer cars, then the kinks of reliability and price will be worked out within a decade. We've been manufacturing internal combustion engines for over 100 years. The engine in your car is basically the same technology that was powering cars in your grandparents era.
- enri, on 12/15/2007, -0/+4Also from Fast Company
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead- ... - londubh, on 12/15/2007, -1/+5Water is not an energy source. It requires an outside source of power to break down the water into hydrogen and oxygen. I suggest you learn some basic chemistry. It's not hard. Wikipedia would be a good start. I'd recommend starting with the word 'electrolysis'.
- siddhartha1138, on 12/15/2007, -1/+5SHENANIGANS!! This article doesn't say anything. First of all this is repeat article, secondly this guy hasn't finished this hummer yet, so how can he say that it'll get double the horsepower, and twice the mileage? Sound too good to be true? Because it is! Someone linked to the CNN article on this guy about a classic Lincoln that he was converting to bio diesel that was going to get 100mpg. Of the 4 articles I've read on this guy and his vehicles, none of them have actually delt with a finished vehicle, and none of his amazing claims have ever been verified. CNN should be ashamed for not verifying his claims. The chances of us all driving around in hybrid/diesel/jet-powered Lincolns and Hummers that get 100 MPG in the future is about as likely as flying around on a Pegasus that runs on sunshine and ***** diamonds.
And claiming that car makers could do this overnight if they wanted? *****! Sure the Big 3 automakers lobby for lower fuel efficiency and don't really give a ***** about the environment, unless they think they can turn a buck off it, but they aren't actively suppressing technology, they are having to lease high technology from Japanese and German automakers because the hybrid technologies they developed in the 90's (under MANDATE from congress) were efficient (60ish MPG) but polluted and performed poorly.
I drive a diesel Mercedes that runs on biodiesel, and i can tell you that it doesn't get a significant boost in fuel efficiency (maybe 2-3% but that could be my own enthusiasm for the alt-fuel biasing my mpg measurement, plus all the other mechanical improvements that I've made to the car). Diesel engines are inherently more efficient than gasoline, that's why my car from 1973 gets 26-28 mpg, whereas most cars from that era (like my '75 Dodge Dart) get about 10-14 mpg. So when he switches a gas truck engine for a diesel he's not doing anything new, and his websites claim that he has doubled a trucks horsepower with a duramax diesel is BS.
"It's the transformation of what I call old technology to new technology," Goodwin says. Swapping off the shelf diesel engines for gas is not revolutionary, his diesel powered jet engine car has yet to hit the road, his hybrid 100mpg caddy has yet to be completed. The reality is that if you want a car that gets great mileage get a diesel (if you can find one) or a hybrid (if you can afford one), or a tiny car, or a motorcycle. - triskele, on 12/15/2007, -0/+4Kinda like the last time this was posted on Digg.
- init100, on 12/15/2007, -3/+7You could use spent turboshaft (helicopter turbine) engines that have operated for enough time for the FAA to require an extensive rebuild. That's what Marine Turbine Technologies does for it's MTT Turbine Superbike. That the FAA says that it's "worn out" for flying doesn't mean that it's worn out for the road.
- osbjmg, on 12/15/2007, -4/+7Thank you for your comment.
- pw378, on 12/16/2007, -0/+3Yeah init100, because there are enough used helicopter turbines around to retrofit all the cars on the road today, right?
- init100, on 12/15/2007, -0/+3"Build a solar panel on your roof, get a fuel cell and voila! Hydrogen off the grid."
A fuel cell isn't required. A fuel cell would rather be used for the reverse, i.e. getting power from hydrogen and oxygen. Take a battery or a solar panel, and stick the leads into a bowl of water. What happens? Bubbles appear at the leads. One of the leads will produce oxygen and the other will produce hydrogen. - vtbarrera, on 02/03/2009, -0/+3“Detroit could do all this stuff overnight if it wanted to,” he adds.
No, not really. - drjekelmrhyde, on 12/15/2007, -1/+460 MPG Hummer but can't get their webpage to work
- funkyjunk3, on 12/15/2007, -0/+3Do you *really* think a biodiesel infrastructure would run off McD's and KFC?
From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel#Production
* Virgin oil feedstock; rapeseed and soybean oils are most commonly used, soybean oil alone accounting for about ninety percent of all fuel stocks; It also can be obtained from field pennycress and Jatropha other crops such as mustard, flax, sunflower, canola, palm oil, hemp, and even algae show promise.
* Waste vegetable oil (WVO);
* Animal fats including tallow, lard, yellow grease, chicken fat,[24] and the by-products of the production of Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.
* Sewage. A company in New Zealand has successfully developed a system for using sewage waste as a substrate for algae and then producing bio-diesel. - warriorscot, on 12/15/2007, -1/+4What do you think they use to make the oils, in place of food crops allot of farmers grow oil producing crops instead so he is correct, and it does also require significant energy to manufacture.
- init100, on 12/15/2007, -2/+5"you could have a hummer or escalade that gets 50 mpg of WATER with no harmful emissions and these so called "greenies" woudl still cry foul over something."
I agree. Many greens hate cars themselves, not specifically cars that run on fossil fuels. Many of them argue that the private use of automobiles must stop because it allegedly hurts the environment, while failing to mention anything about the method of propulsion. I would agree if they would say that we need to reduce the use of fossil fuels to power cars, but that isn't what they say, they say that we need to stop ordinary people from owning cars at all, regardless of fuel.
Sometimes I believe that they want us to go back to the caves, and some of them probably would want to. At least everyone else. :) - URnotheonly1, on 12/15/2007, -1/+4Americans like big vehicle's, this is the hurdle that needs to be crossed before Hybrid technology will become mainstream, solve this problem and Americans will never look back at gas again, but until this is solved gas will be king.
High mileage + power + comfort + practicality + cost = success and market domination - funkyjunk3, on 12/15/2007, -0/+3here, let me fix that for you.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead- ...
(I know, damn comment system kills URLs!) -
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