Money—It's a Gas
I did something today that I think probably increased the value of my vehicle substantially. I filled the gas tank. Laugh if you will. But if you consider the age and condition of my car, along with the amount of gas necessary to fill the tank, I think you'll agree with me.
I decided to start keeping track of when I fill the car, how much it takes, and how far I've gone in between. Since the Dreadnought was last filled, I've gone 453 miles and put in 30.9 gallons of gas. That works out to 14.7 miles per gallon. Ouch.
To look at it another way, I last filled it on September 16th. That was 19 days ago, which works out to 1.63 gallons per day. Again, ouch. Of course, that tank also included two trips to Provo and back. I expect that my usual daily usage is quite a bit less. We'll see the next time I fill up.
You know what really amazes me? I take public transportation to work and school five days a week—six, if I happen to be working Saturdays. I've taken to riding the bus to Ogden rather than driving. I've even cut down on driving side trips. And I still can't seem to keep gas in that beast. Good thing I'm not delivering pizzas!
In addition to filling up, I had to buy a gas cap today. On my way home from Nancy's house one evening, I realized that the needle was dancing perilously close to Empty. So I pulled into the first station I found. I opened the gas door, took off the cap, and put in the nozzle. Then I put my debit card into the reader, only to find that the pumps were turned off. So I put my card away and put the nozzle back. The next morning when I went to get something out of the car, I saw that the gas door was still open, and the gas cap was gone. Oops.
Hydrogen-powered cars seem to be getting a lot of press these days. I wish that were as good an option as it sounds like. There are two big problems, though. First, current methods of storing hydrogen can be very risky. Hydrogen burns as well as it does for a reason! Second, hydrogen provides essentially no improvement, at least environmentally, over gasoline. Let me explain, if I may.
Hydrogen is manufactured by two main industrial processes. The first way of making hydrogen is by the steam reforming process, which involves using fossil fuels. Propane, for example:
C3H8 + 3 H2O (900º, catalyst) -> 3 CO + 7 H2
Obviously, getting hydrogen from fossil fuels really doesn't do anything to solve the problem. The second method is by the Water-gas and Water-gas Shift Reactions:
WG: C + H2O -> CO + H2
WGS: CO + H2O -> H2 + CO2
The problem here is with the products. In addition to hydrogen, these reactions produce carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. (So does steam reforming, come to think of it.) In other words, we end up with greenhouse gas emissions, just like with gasoline.
::sigh:: Maybe I'll buy a horse.
I decided to start keeping track of when I fill the car, how much it takes, and how far I've gone in between. Since the Dreadnought was last filled, I've gone 453 miles and put in 30.9 gallons of gas. That works out to 14.7 miles per gallon. Ouch.
To look at it another way, I last filled it on September 16th. That was 19 days ago, which works out to 1.63 gallons per day. Again, ouch. Of course, that tank also included two trips to Provo and back. I expect that my usual daily usage is quite a bit less. We'll see the next time I fill up.
You know what really amazes me? I take public transportation to work and school five days a week—six, if I happen to be working Saturdays. I've taken to riding the bus to Ogden rather than driving. I've even cut down on driving side trips. And I still can't seem to keep gas in that beast. Good thing I'm not delivering pizzas!
In addition to filling up, I had to buy a gas cap today. On my way home from Nancy's house one evening, I realized that the needle was dancing perilously close to Empty. So I pulled into the first station I found. I opened the gas door, took off the cap, and put in the nozzle. Then I put my debit card into the reader, only to find that the pumps were turned off. So I put my card away and put the nozzle back. The next morning when I went to get something out of the car, I saw that the gas door was still open, and the gas cap was gone. Oops.
Hydrogen-powered cars seem to be getting a lot of press these days. I wish that were as good an option as it sounds like. There are two big problems, though. First, current methods of storing hydrogen can be very risky. Hydrogen burns as well as it does for a reason! Second, hydrogen provides essentially no improvement, at least environmentally, over gasoline. Let me explain, if I may.
Hydrogen is manufactured by two main industrial processes. The first way of making hydrogen is by the steam reforming process, which involves using fossil fuels. Propane, for example:
C3H8 + 3 H2O (900º, catalyst) -> 3 CO + 7 H2
Obviously, getting hydrogen from fossil fuels really doesn't do anything to solve the problem. The second method is by the Water-gas and Water-gas Shift Reactions:
WG: C + H2O -> CO + H2
WGS: CO + H2O -> H2 + CO2
The problem here is with the products. In addition to hydrogen, these reactions produce carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. (So does steam reforming, come to think of it.) In other words, we end up with greenhouse gas emissions, just like with gasoline.
::sigh:: Maybe I'll buy a horse.
posted by Michael at
11:59 PM
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