GJB

Please help me out, I have a question about CO2 balance. There seems to be quite a big discussion going on about this subject. One opinion is that there is a natural dynamic balance in CO2 emission and absorption, and the man made CO2 production is disturbing this balance. The contrary opinion is that ther is no balance and CO2 levels have allways varied. At least that's what I understand. Hence my question : Is there a natural balance in CO2 emission and absorption or not. Please enlighten me

I am not sure about the US, but Argentina vaccinated all their cattle. That is what the whole riot was about. There were 2 choices 1) Destroy and burn the entire livestock. 2) Vaccinate The governements int the EU chose to destroy and burn the cattle, their argumant being that once cattle was vaccinated it was impossible to detect the presence of the BSE bacteria, so they could not guarantee the public health. (anyway it was some sort of reasoning like that) I first thought that the argument had at least some merit. Until I later learned that they happily imported vaccinated Argentinian beef An other thing is that people associate Natural=Pure=Good=Healthy Nature is a tremendous producer of all kinds of harmful and poisonous substances e.g. mushrooms (make sure you pick the right ones or die) On a positiv note discussions like these are good as a wake up call, what with more and more people sharing this planet. Cheers All the cattle on the farms in the vincinity were destroyed to, whether that was "organic" or not DDT is banned, malaria Rulez

Thank you for your replies Now I know I have to wake up from this dream

I did not explain that : 1) my theoretical engine would be one designed for that fuel mix. 2) it would be a power generator running at optimum conditions all the time Cheers

Sure but on the other hand the small engine will produce oxygen for the big engine and also hydrogen for its own consumption. I am hopeless with mathematics, but I gamble that the small engine could perhaps produce say 50% of it's own fuel. Meanwhile maybe it would be perhaps possible to tweak the big engine in such a way that it gets a slightly bigger HP output to offset for the extra energy needed for the electricity production. The whole question being: Is the gain of burning gasoline with some oxygen bigger than the extra electricity neede by this setup. Just plain curious and absolutely clueless as to how to calculate this. Cheers

Hi, I have been tossing some crazy idea around It came to me when I was using an acetylene torch. You open the gas and you light it, this will give you a flame that will not even put a cup of water to boil. Now you open the oxygen and you have a flame that will melt metal. So here is my idea, but first I want to make sure that you understand that I do not want to increase the power output of any engine 50HP engine should still produce 50HP but with a lower gasoline consumption. You already guessed that I want to put (some) oxygen in the mix. At start up this oxygen is produced by electrolyses (energy taken from the battery) The oxygen is then fed back in to the engine, while the hydrogen is fed into a second (a lot smaller) engine. The smaller engine burns the hydrogen with the outside air, and produces electricity that is used for electrolyses of water. I think (please correct me if I'm wrong) that the small engine could run at 30- or 40% efficiency. Would this setup have a positif effect on the gasoline consumption of the engine? Or is this a dream I should wake up from as soon as possible Cheers

Michel123456, yes that's right, you know I'm on the lower extreme watersport expierience thing. No oceans for me with enormous waves, storms and what not. Putter along, buy the local cheese, whine etc , catch some fish, take swim, explore that interesting restaurant... well I think you get my drift. That's my favourite way of "sailing".

Captainpanic, sur electric outboard that are on the market can run longer than that? And I forgot to say that I,m no speed freek pottering along at 2 or 3 mph on a small lake or for example the French Canal du Midi would be great for me. Nor was I very clear in what I exactly wanted. Let's first throw this contraption of mine in the dumpster, and follow the wind/solar power pack method. What I envision is this: A store bought electric motor moves the boat while the helmsman is pedalling away to charge the battery,( or if that's a bad idea he could charge the spare battery. For example I will take a 2hp Torqeedo, (2hp= 1500 Watt?), while the helmsman is pedalling 200W. Which is 7.5 times less. So in fact the first thing I will achieve is some more sailing time. In Europe many people just take short trips. And if I keep pedalling while at anchor I will gain some more sailing time. And i like your idea of solar power, that could be added in the mix since the type of boater for this type of watersport will be your typical "nice weather sailor". I have to look for this solar cell foil that's supposed to be on the market, maybe it will produce another 200W when I cover the cabin roof with it. Again thanks for your input I might be getting somewhere Cheers GJB

Thank you for your reply, I was almost sure that my plan sucked somehow I think I will spend a lot of time browsing around for discussions about pedal power. Maybe it's an idea to have an all mechanical set up with side paddle wheels like mississippi steamboat ? Cheers GJB

Hi every one, I am trying to put together a "design" for a ecological boat. The building material will be recycled wood, (from any breakers yard) the boat will be cross planked and the layers will be glued together with homemade liquid cement, which is a simple mix of waterglass, shellac resin and water. The design will very much look like this one: http://www.mission-b...skiffcycle.html So yes you guessed it right it will be pedal powered. The whole thing will be painted with natural linseed oil based paint. Now back to the "power system", I have always wondered why all PPS ( my abbreviation for Padel Power System) are always just based on bike pedals, the torque arm (if such a term excists), is very short. What I would like to know is would it be a good idea to create a setup with a long and a short end (please excuse my lousy explanation) like in a hydraulic hand pump This lousy drawing will have to explain it all(sorry) The small circle is any engine block from any kind of small engine 2-cyl is best I think (you can put both your feet to work), so the vertical movement is defined by the stroke of the engine. Let's assume that the stroke is 5 centimeters the paddle end of (the long end) will move up and down 50 centimeters. So little effort is needed to make the thing turn round. The big circle is a flywheel that connects with a V-belt to a car dynamo, which in turn will charge a battery. The actual propulsion is by electric outboard motor. The advantages of this setup are: 1) High power output with little effort (at least that's what I hope for) 2) Separate battery charging and boat propulsion. Like when you're at anchor and fishing you can still charge the batteries. 3) It would be a very green solution. Is this doable or is this just plain crazy? What do you think? Cheers GJB