Calif Bill wrote:
As to Oil companies blocking alternative energy. Chevron has one of the
bigger alternative energy suppliers under it's flag. As long as they sell
energy, they make money. Be it oil, or solar, they bank money.

So does BP-Amoco and IIRC Phillips too. They're not dumb,
they know someday the oil will run out and they definitely
want to stay in business. OTOH that doesn't mean that they
either stomp on things that threaten them (just human
nature) and/or work behind the scenes to run the price up
(which increases their profits on both oil and
alternatives). Like I said, they're not dumb.


... As to
alcohol over MTBE, is an improvement, but is also a Federal requirement to
use an oxygenate. Chevron and the others outside of Arco all said they
could meet the standards without mandatory addition of an oxygenate. Arco,
was the seller of MTBE. A government mandated disaster. Super toxic, and
super corrosive and pollutes our waters. Eats up the Fiberglass tanks at
stations and eats the seals on pipelines. Major reason so many more
refinery fires these days. Old days a $5 nitril seal on a pipe connection
lasted over a year. Now a $100 seal lasts about 6 months.


I hadn't realized MTBE was that bad for the handling
systems. I wonder how it affect lubricant chemistry. Gasahol
has a number of similar issues, but it seems likely to not
be that bad. It's a weaker fuel though.

DSK