I don't think legality has much to do with this one.
That's what american alternative fuel enthusiasts told me, when I asked them about using moonshine. I was asking about it, because unlike other stuff, like vegetable oil, methane, hydrogen it does not need expensive equipment and have better output. I tried to get a picture of modern alternative fuel scene and found that strange, west-specific thing.
Most people don't even cook dinner, so why expect them to do something that requires some planning, attention, ventilated space, etc?
That people are not in target audience of free energy thing. As they are not in target audience of alternative DIY fuels. But they could have friends who are into that things.
Also, most people don't know that you can pretty easily tune/modify gasoline engines to run on ethanol.
You don't need to modify a car, you need to modify ethanol (C2H5OH) using zeolite catalist to convert it to a mix of hydrocarbons similar to high-octane gas composition. It is just passing ethanol wapours through heated tube filled with zeolite. It is dehydratation and alkylation combined in one simple process.
American DIY enthusiasts are already biodieseling or producing alcohol fuels, all 100 of them.
Biodiesel - yes, a lot, but you have to seed fields of plants to get necessary oil. Methanol - yes, you could make it from nearly any organic waste, but it is hard to convert methanol into hydrocarbons mix and as a direct fuel it is twice worse in MPG than gasoline and highly corrosive. Ethanol - all mentions I found - in US people buy it for their experiments, not make. From the side of independece it is senseless.
Of course you could run your car nearly on anything that burn, even directly on wood gas, but speaking about free energy I pay more attention on independence, not on the possibility.
Most DIYers I've seen don't zeolite, they just adjust the fuel/air mix, and change any older hoses that aren't ethanol safe.
Burning alcohol is less effective than burning carbonhydrates mix. You already have that pesky oxygen atom in alcohol, it is already partially oxidized (say burned), so you have to burn more to get same energy output.
I don't think legality has much to do with this one. It's pretty easy to get the fed permit to distill fuel alcohol if it's legal in your state too.
Most people don't even cook dinner, so why expect them to do something that requires some planning, attention, ventilated space, etc?
Also, most people don't know that you can pretty easily tune/modify gasoline engines to run on ethanol.
I've seen off-grid people distill their own alcohol for fuel though.
That's what american alternative fuel enthusiasts told me, when I asked them about using moonshine. I was asking about it, because unlike other stuff, like vegetable oil, methane, hydrogen it does not need expensive equipment and have better output. I tried to get a picture of modern alternative fuel scene and found that strange, west-specific thing.
That people are not in target audience of free energy thing. As they are not in target audience of alternative DIY fuels. But they could have friends who are into that things.
You don't need to modify a car, you need to modify ethanol (C2H5OH) using zeolite catalist to convert it to a mix of hydrocarbons similar to high-octane gas composition. It is just passing ethanol wapours through heated tube filled with zeolite. It is dehydratation and alkylation combined in one simple process.
American DIY enthusiasts are already biodieseling or producing alcohol fuels, all 100 of them.
I'm replying to "I don't understand why americans don't..." you need the normies to so things for it to make any difference.
Most DIYers I've seen don't zeolite, they just adjust the fuel/air mix, and change any older hoses that aren't ethanol safe.
I'm sure you're 100% correct when it comes to enthusiasts and powerusers, but most people aren't at the top.
Biodiesel - yes, a lot, but you have to seed fields of plants to get necessary oil. Methanol - yes, you could make it from nearly any organic waste, but it is hard to convert methanol into hydrocarbons mix and as a direct fuel it is twice worse in MPG than gasoline and highly corrosive. Ethanol - all mentions I found - in US people buy it for their experiments, not make. From the side of independece it is senseless.
Of course you could run your car nearly on anything that burn, even directly on wood gas, but speaking about free energy I pay more attention on independence, not on the possibility.
Burning alcohol is less effective than burning carbonhydrates mix. You already have that pesky oxygen atom in alcohol, it is already partially oxidized (say burned), so you have to burn more to get same energy output.