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Homemade ethanol guru Floyd S. Butterfield and Silicon Valley entrepreneur and innovator Thomas J. Quinn want to see you making ethanol in your backyard. Their creation, called the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler, is a stacked washer-dryer sized reactor that can convert sugar into ethanol for (they claim) $1.00 per gallon.
Before you get too excited, please note that the unit is probably too expensive for your next block party, unless you’ve got an extra $9,995 lying around somewhere. Fortunately, state and Federal tax credits can halve this, but that still keeps it out of the price range of the average American.
Most of us are at least vaguely familiar with biodiesel, but how much do we really know? While biodiesel is easily the most popular alternative fuel available, it’s commonly misunderstood or misrepresented by inaccurate information. Since the most frequent question I get is, “So what exactly is biodiesel, anyway?“, I decided to write a tome covering all the basics—a one stop shop for all your biodiesel- related questions.
It’s been exactly one year since I published the first Biodiesel Mythbuster on GreenOptions.com, and its popularity made a sequel inevitable. By way of a short introduction, here’s what I wrote last year:
Trying to learn how to make biodiesel, or interested in seeing how it’s done? It always helps to get a visual, and you may not be aware that there are currently enough biodiesel videos on YouTube to develop an entire college course on the subject. I’ve thrown out a representative sample, just to give you an idea of what’s available.
While this is a good general introduction to homebrewing biodiesel, I have to repeat the disclaimer I made earlier (see 6 Ways To Find And Use Biodiesel Anywhere - Part II): before attempting this on your own it’s important to do your homework. Don’t trust it just because you’ve seen someone do it. Most of these videos don’t discuss the specifics of making biodiesel, and for that I would recommend a solid resource (also see the link just above): Biodiesel, Basics And Beyond: A Comprehensive Guide to Production And Use for the Home And Farm.
You’ll notice a lot of these videos utilize a homemade biodiesel reactor called the “appleseed” reactor. This is the simplest and cheapest way to build a biodiesel processing facility in your garage. The plans for it can be found here.
Number 1: Guy Makes Biodiesel In His Kitchen
I can’t believe his mother lets him do this in the kitchen, and where are his gloves?! (I have a particular affiliation for the video, though, since I had the same old truck.)
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By Gavin Hudson •
August 17, 2007
Hands up, all who enjoy a good beer from time to time! But what about the energy consumed making and transporting all of those glass bottles and (for the rest of us—who are we kidding?) aluminum cans? Mining the aluminum used for cans is an even more environmentally-dubious endeavor. Sure, everyone who’s anyone recycles. But you can do one better than recycling your beer bottles and cans: reduce the bottles you need and reuse
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By Ryan Thibodaux •
April 25, 2007
Photo: Utah Biodiesel SupplyEven with the retail price of biodiesel hovering close to the price of regular diesel ("dino-diesel" to us bio-enthusiasts) in many areas, a growing group of DIYers are making the fuel from scratch in their own garages and back yards.
Homebrewing biodiesel has many advantages: it usually costs well under $1 a gallon to produce, it eliminates trips to the gas station, and it makes a hell […]
By Patrick Donnelly •
February 27, 2007
Readers may remember my first Adventures in Homebrew, of several weeks ago. Then, in a somewhat bumbling and hapless fashion, a friend and I cooked up some homebrewed beer, and set it to ferment in a large glass jug. Now it's time to bottle the fermented concoction, and set it on its final path to being real beer.
By Patrick Donnelly •
February 12, 2007
Last week, in an effort to simplify my alcohol supply chain, a friend and I decided to try our hands at homebrewing beer. Given that there are very few (read: one) microbreweries out here in the California desert, most of my beer has to travel quite a long ways to reach me. Cutting down on carbon output from transportation is one of my motivating factors in homebrewing. In addition, it allows me
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