[GTALUG] mysterious restarts

o1bigtenor o1bigtenor at gmail.com
Fri Jun 17 10:49:55 EDT 2016


On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 9:00 AM, Lennart Sorensen via talk
<talk at gtalug.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 11:36:09PM -0400, Bob Jonkman via talk wrote:
>> A few (10?) years ago I head a Science Friday show with guest George
>> Olah where he made a strong case for using hydrogen, but storing and
>> transporting it as methanol. It can be used directly (burned), have the
>> hydrogen stripped off and used in hydrogen fuel cells, and there are
>> methanol fuel cells. Methanol can be produced directly from carbon
>> dioxide. But the best part was that since methanol is a liquid, all our
>> current gasoline distribution and storage can be used without a
>> fundamental change in infrastructure. Don't know why this hasn't taken
>> off...
>
> Methanol is very dangerous to have around.  If it cathes fire, you
> can't tell.  The fire isn't very hot and the flame is invisible, so you
> can't see the fire, you barely feel the fire, but it is there.
>
> This is not really something we want in cars that crash into each other.
>
> Race cars and such use it but they also have serious training for
> recognizing and dealing with the fires.
>
> Ethanol is similar which is why you only get E85, not E100 for sale.
> The 15% gasoline means you can see the fire if the fuel cathes on fire.

Sorry - - - public safety has become an advanced form of paranoia!
All fuels are inherently dangerous, most often in different ways but
every form has its specific dangers. How many times have I watched
someone light a cigarette after having filled their vehicle with gas.

I am getting to the point where to promote travel safety all travel needs
to be done only on foot.

That would greatly increase safety and would employ a lot more people
to get things done. Fuels are so very very dangerous - - - people are
hurt and/or killed by their use every year. Imagine all the lives that would
be saved we everyone only able to walk!

(What we are not comfortable with is most often labeled as dangerous
even if it really isn't!)

Regards

Dee


More information about the talk mailing list