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Over the years I have had quite a pradigm shift. When I was 16 years old and Sunoco 260 octane gasoline was available gas mileage was not a concern (I’m dating myself!). I could fill my ‘66 Vette’s gas tank, it had a 427 cubic inch engine, at 30 cents per gallon, I could fill the tank for 5 to 6 dollars. FYI, I worked and payed for the Vette myself, with a small contribution from my Dad, who is the best Dad ever.

In retrospect it is easy to see we were living a lie, of sorts. The rest of the world was paying 3 to 6 dollars a gallon as far back as the early 70’s. We were spoiled, we expected it. We were mad when gas went up in price. I’m not saying I undertsand how they ‘really’ calculate gas prices, but at the time gas prices were so low and no one was thinking about renewable sources of fuel or developing new technologies for alternative sources of fuel. Ones that are renewable and don’t deplete the earths resources.

The bio-deisel fuel strategy has too many flaws in it. For instance any fuel made with corn seems to make corn expensive for people who like to eat corn and products with corn in them. It makes corn cost too much to use as a human fuel. Bio-fuels are less efficient and don’t allow the engine to make as much power as gasoline. The other issue affects boaters and motorhomes, in other words if you don’t drive your vehicle very often bio-fuels can really mess up a gas tank and carburetor of fuel injection system. Unlike propane or LPG gas bio-fuels like deisel fuel can become contaminated with water or condenation. It is not an issue really for regularly driven vehicles. When bio-fuels sit in a gas tank and or the carburetor or fuel injection system, the water in the fuel can ruin a gas/fuel tank and many carburetor or fuel injection parts. Diesel and bio-fuels also grow a fungus of sorts if they sit for to long. The additives available to stop the condenation problem are not very trustable for the most part.

Note: There are better sources of bio-fuels than corn. That is an entire story in itself that will be covered in detail in the near future.

Producing Bio-fuels damage the atmosphere, adding more polution because they are inefficient to produce compared to fossil fuels.

Back to the point, I don’t like bio-deisel fuel as a long term solution. The easiest way to keep your engine performing at it’s peak is to keep your vehicle ‘tuned up’ regularly. Taking off from a stop lights slower and coasting as much as you can if you know you have to stop ahead is a real easy strategy to start with. I have been exposed to the ‘vegetable oil fuels’, when a diesel is converted to run off of used vege french frying oils that places like Burger King and McDonalds use, which is a vegetable based oil is not realistic, although they give a delicious french fry odor to the exhaust! Realistically speaking how many people can expect to keep a full tank by stopping at McDonalds for their old fry oil? Vege frying oils are a limited resource, even though more and more people eat fast food because it is cheap.

I hope they continue to work on hybrids and full electric cars. Realizing the cost of making such big changes in the auto industry is hard to do, should not lower our expectations to put many of them on the market in the next few years. FYI, I rented Toyota Prius several months ago and it blew my mind. I got 35 mpg doing about 75 to 80 mph and it still had plenty of passing power. It also ran and handled excellently. I was impressed to say the least.

This article is about how my paradigm has changed. I wish more folks would embrace this type of thinking and compete to get great fuel mileage and clean emissions instead of making more power than needed and poluting the air.

GotEngines.com is a green company. Supplying the engines people need nowadays is what they do, but they are ready to serve up the ‘green‘ engines produced now and the one’s in the future. The GotEngines.com Blog will continue to write and keep you updated on any legitimate way for you to be more environmentally concious. It does not eliminate the reasons engines fail. Being a savvy consumer requires your paticipation and education of this subject, you can subcribe to our blog for free and get daily alerts, updates and vital car information that can not be found any place else.