I was shocked to see diesel at $6.99 per gallon at Safeway yesterday. This will hit shippers. Also people who drive diesel-powered pickup trucks.
Wendy
4 Likes
Yep. The power of the bipartisan culture of corruption in Washington at work for you.
Give them what they voted for – good and hard.
intercst
3 Likes
When I see the prices on gas station signs I feel like I’m living in science fiction movie.
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@intercst you have repeated your cynical mantra ad nauseum.
You are contradicting yourself with your nasty schadenfreude “give them what they voted for, good and hard.” In a bipartisan culture of corruption voters don’t have a choice since both sides are corrupt.
Try to post constructive comments in the future.
Wendy
9 Likes
Drive EVs! 
The Captain
4 Likes
1 Like
Just bought diesel for the tractors. $4.98 Kansas
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I’m more worried about the civil unrest you’re going to see in the poorer countries when the famine begins.
There’s a teaspoon of diesel in every tomato at Safeway.
intercst
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Can they convert those diesels to run on cooking oil? Is a gallon of cooking oil cheaper than a gallon of diesel? Inquiring minds want to know…doc
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The energy density of cooking oil is low, so you won’t get as many miles out of a tank full. Also, if you use recovered cooking oil, that is moderately expensive. Though, if diesel gets to $10/gal, maybe it might be competitive(??).
Energy density would still be an issue.
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Fuel Prices
Santa Rosa in Northern California the diesel was$7.620 yesterday.
Biodiesel is renewable. There is a lot of differing info on its energy density. Ai did some research and said:
Search Assist Seed oil has a higher energy density than diesel fuel, with energy density values typically around 39.5 MJ/L for seed oils compared to diesel’s range of 32 to 40 MJ/L. This means seed oils can provide a similar or slightly greater amount of energy per liter than diesel. I did some looking too and it seems like it would be a viable alternative. One wonders if the petroleum industry would try to obfuscate the information to make it more confusing. I have gas guzzlers so no dog in this fight…doc
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Seed oils make people sick but diesel engines might like it! The seed oil industry would save a lot of money selling it by the barrel instead of by the bottle.
Just a thought…
The Captain
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At the same time, the total annual production of seed oils in the US would only make up a couple of weeks worth of diesel consumption.
DB2
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Hey, if we can turn 40% of the corn grown into the US into a crappy fuel to extend gas supplies, I’m sure we could do the same with seed oil. Maybe better! Let’s get the farm vote for subsidies, which they hate, except when it benefits them in which case it’s crucial to getting elected.
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Agricultural use fuel here, even in CA is cheaper, as there is no road tax on it, and I think it’s colored to mark it, so if a trucker used it, got checked at the scales, they’d get cited at the least…
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Yeah, they red dye the off-road diesel (no road tax) here too. I’ve heard stories how the state would attend farm auctions and stick the tanks of the diesel pickups and fine the owners.
I don’t buy enough diesel to make it worth the savings.
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This fact alone may not be sufficient. I think we need [at least] two more pieces of information -
- How much seed oil (or other oil) is used to produce a liter (a barrel, etc) of seed oil?
- Can seed oil be produced in large quantity without using petroleum products? Fertilizer, etc.
This is a good example of “no net gain” and probably a net loss, energy policy.
5 Likes
No grain no gain? 
The Captain
Or, in this case, “grain, no gain”
DB2