Diesel fuel ignites through compression in the cylinders, yes? Hence why there are no spark plugs?
No matter what the fuel, the fundamental attitude many Americans have must change to stop being dependent on gasoline. That is the one true thing holding back the country from switching to less expensive, cleaner, less politically motivated fuels given gasoline of one kind or another has been used for over a hundred years.
Diesel engines rely on COMPRESSION to ignite the fuel, so no spark plugs are needed. Rudolf Diesel discovered that intense compression would cause even vegetable oil to ignite. It is silly to use petroleum based products for diesel - the only reason that they do is due to the intense oil lobby. Before the oil fields were discovered (the big oil boom) biodiesel was the direction of the future, and it still is.
I agree that we need to rely less on any type of fuel - the need for oil is spiraling out of control but in the meantime biodiesel is one of our biggest salvations. But- don't expect to see too much of it until the big oil companies can dump their petroleum based fuel reserves. The oil that they are pumping out of the ground now is literally the dredges of the oil supply. We have used up an incredible amount of the earths resources in an amazingly short amount of time.
Biodiesel is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar. Most new Diesel cars and trucks can run on B100. If I were buying a new car/truck I would definitely look at a diesel for that very reason, especially if B20 or B50, or B100 is already available in your area (as it is here).
09-04-2005, 05:37 PM
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