Yes really, more than and beyond the definition of the word ‘serious’. Used cooking oil from your everyday frying of chicken, fries and pork can now be used as fuel for your cars through recycling. These are called Biodiesel and it has started a revolution as an alternative to expensive fossil or mineral oil.
The first known and recorded use of vegetable oil as fuel in an engine was a demonstration of a diesel engine built by the Otto Company and was designed to burn mineral oil, which was then run on pure peanut oil at the 1900 World's Fair. After several years of research, Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine, investigated using vegetable oil to fuel the engines he designed.
He presented this idea in 1912 to the British Institute of Mechanical Engineers and successfully cited a number of efforts in this area and he envisioned that though regular cooking oil or vegetable oil sources may seem insignificant back then, the fact that such oils would perhaps have the same importance as natural mineral oils and the tar products in due course of time.
From then on, numerous groups had started an obsession on the research into cooking oil as a diesel substitute. The use of vegetable oil in the mainstream had enjoyed its success during the early 1980s at the height of the spiraling prices and shortages of petroleum and other mineral oil.
How is it made to work with automobiles? Inventors and developers would say it simply as recycling the oil and applying the same concept in refining petroleum oil. They commonly joke as if it’s just like making coffee. The mixture is just simple: a used cooking oil of typically vegetable or coconut sources, a methanol and a catalyst which is composed of potassium and sodium.
The said mixture of three (cooking oil, methanol and catalyst) doesn’t require heating from expensive pumping stations and can be made easily, even at home provided one has the proper knowledge, tools and storage. A generally accepted mixture of 100 liters of cooking oil (costs around $0.50 per liter) plus 20 liters of methanol (usually at $1) plus one kilo of catalyst (costs around $3.5) can create 100 liters of biodiesel as well as an excess of 20 liters of glycerin (which can be used as main ingredient for everyday bath and laundry soap).
What’s more surprising is that it was tested in an unmodified older Mercedes Benz and ran for hundreds of miles during a 2006 University of Idaho invention exhibit.
Today, countries like Russia, Azerbaizan, India, Bulgaria, Paraguay and the Philippines have implemented extensive development of used cooking oil or vegetable oil to power up vehicles as well as other machineries. Major automobile manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, Ford and General Motors have slowly introduced newly designed automobile engines that support the use of Biodiesel fuel especially with the rising prices of petroleum and the collapse of the US and other European economy.
The earth absorbs more than 30% of the sun’s heat radiation incident in it in the form of infra red rays. This heat is captured and stored by it in its various components like the surface and underground water, rocks and other minerals and elements present in its different layers. This energy can be tapped and used for various purposes in our homes. Some of the common usage of geothermal energy in our homes, are given below.
We can use the heat generated from the earth’s surface for keeping our homes warm and cosy. This is very useful during extreme heat or extreme cold weather which is a commonly endured by many countries. We can use the geothermal energy of the earth, by tapping the heat using various different techniques.
The basic technique includes passing a geothermal fluid through a pipe into the crust of the earth, and absorbing the heat tapped there, this heated fluid is then passed through the pipe into the house thus conducting the heat into the house. The pipe used can be of metal or non metal, depending on the heat conducting fluid that we are using inside the pipe.
The fluid in the pipe is circulated through the pipe in cycles, bringing in cooler fluid and taking out warm fluid to transfer it on to the required place. Such pipes can be used in two different methods – geothermal heat pumps and geoexchange energy wells.
When the earth is used as source of heat the pipe brings heat into the house and when the earth is used as sink heat is taken from the house making it cool. The cycle can continue until we require and the energy required for running this cycle is also very low. Thus pollution free heaters as well non carbon emitting coolers can be obtained.
It is also observed that the cost of operation for such system is meagre compared to the electric room heaters and air conditioners used at present.
Another use of geothermal energy is by using dry steam in the pipes that are circulated in the house. The heated steam can be used to heat and cool the house. This heated steam can also be used to turn turbines to produce electricity to run electrical appliances of the house and also light the house. It can also be used to keep any greenhouse of the house warm. Dry steam can be used for cooking also. We can use dry steam to dry washed clothes during winter and rainy seasons.
When we use water in the pipes the heated water can be used directly to take bath, as we use solar water heaters, cook and also run turbines to produce electricity. The hot water also can be used directly to wash clothes, and in dishwasher.
Cooling systems can be used in refrigeration of different food items also. They can also be used during summer to keep the house cool.
It has been observed that the energy thus produced does not emit unwanted gases and is renewable.
The connection can be kept online 97% of the time without thinking of wastage as the wastage is minimal.
