Gas(alcohol) or Diesel(Biodiesel)?

[nyachty]

I'm asking the question most if not some are asking.

Which is better? Gasoline car and make alcohol fuel or diesel car and make biodiesel fuel?

I'm driving an insane amount of miles per week and need to buy a pickup truck. Now I can use a small 4 cylinder gas truck or buy a larger, diesel truck to do the job.

My question is to everyone...which have you experienced to be a better option towards running cheaper and more efficient?

Have you tried the option to make alcohol fuel and is it worth the effort/reward?

Have you tried to make biodiesel, as in, veggie oil mix, palm seed or anything else that will burn in a diesel engine.

Maybe this is a good time to start a survey or vote?

[bkruger]

I don't think anyone here would tell you to get a gas engine over a diesel. If you can, hunt down one of the older diesel S10s. They're pretty rare, but offer the best fuel efficiency you'll find in a pickup. Biodiesel should also be much easier to make, especially if made from WVO.

[solarguy]

It's mostly about E.R.O.E.I. That stands for:

Energy
Returned
On
Energy
Invested

If you make your own alcohol, the EROEI is very close to 1.0 or less. That means that it takes as much energy input to MAKE the alcohol as you get out from BURNING the alcohol. This means you're just converting energy source one into energy source 2, but not gaining anything. Bad plan. Even if you do it with optimal efficiencies in a huge factory and don't waste any of the process heat, and count the energy value of the leftover grain products, about the best you can do (from corn) is 1.3 That means 30% more energy out than you put in to make the alcohol.

Biodiesel on the other hand, has an EROEI of 3 for virgin soybean oil, and 6 or 7 if you start from WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil), AKA used fryer oil. Plus, the process of making biodiesel is about as complicated as baking a cake. Making your own alcohol is far far more complex.

On top of that, all other things being equal, a diesel can be 20% more efficient than a gasser due to better overall Carnot thermodynamic efficiency.

Yes, I make and burn biodiesel in my 2004 VW jetta. Approaching 90,000 trouble free miles on (mostly) biodiesel.

HTH,

troy

[nyachty]

Thanks for the input....finding a small diesel pickup will be hard...I may have swap a diesel for gas in the end.