Diesel is Back!

Diesels are loud, dirty and smelly – a pollution nightmare… you can hear a diesel truck from a mile away, see the soot from halfway down the block and smell the exhaust as it rolls by.

Surprise! – those diesels you hear, and smell are antiques, thanks to the new technology.

Europeans have to pay heavy gasoline taxes and just in case the hydrogen car hit a snag, they invested in the diesel engine as a stop-gap, and indeed, as you know, the hydrogen DID hit a snag and the stop-gap looks like a winner in the great auto race. European refineries have removed most of the pollutants from the fuel. While it is true that the engines cost more, but the gas savings almost make up the difference. You see, diesel gets about 30% more miles to the gallon than gasoline, and those savings are real, in any kind of driving conditions. What’s more, people who worry about global warning prefer diesel because it emits up to 20% less carbon dioxide.

Diesel’s biggest edge is something you’d never expect ….you don’t need crude oil to make diesel fuel. You can make it from coal, plant matter or even cooking oil. No kidding – a restaurant can invest in a cooking oil converter kit that lets you fry a batch of potatoes and later reuse the oil in your delivery truck.

In India, they make fuel from cow dung as an important energy source. A new use for sacred cows!

An MIT study predicts that the diesel hybrid could outperform a hydrogen fuel cell engine on both gasoline mileage and carbon emissions – within 10 years. The obvious play is to buy the big automakers like Toyota that own the leading hybrid or diesel technologies.