kids build soybean fueled car - for real

[donsu]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/eveningnews/main1329941.shtml


The star at last week's Philadelphia Auto Show wasn't a sports car or an economy car. It was a sports-economy car — one that combines performance and practicality under one hood.

-snip-

A car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon would be enough to pique any driver's interest. So who do we have to thank for it. Ford? GM? Toyota? No — just Victor, David, Cheeseborough, Bruce, and Kosi, five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School

The five kids, along with a handful of schoolmates, built the soybean-fueled car as an after-school project. It took them more than a year — rummaging for parts, configuring wires and learning as they went. As teacher Simon Hauger notes, these kids weren't exactly the cream of the academic crop.

-snip-

"We made this work," says Hauger. "We're not geniuses. So why aren't they doing it?"

Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies.

"They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down — to low billions upon billions."
-snip-
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hemp is even better then soybeans

the other day on Wash. Journal a dude said we couldn't use hemp because it was too hard to tell hemp from maryjane. which is a LIE. it's not hard to tell them apart.

the oil barons fear and hate hemp

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Hemp still illegal

because the corporations can't control it. Hemp clothes are great-long wearing and easy to clean. Makes great fuel.

I emailed this thread to my husband....think the kids will publish their plans?

[valerief]

3. It won't matter if they're published.

Cheney etal will make sure there will be laws against soybean fuel or soybean-fueled cars.

[undergroundpanther]

5. I wish the kids would

Publish it ONLINE

Than next thing you know the oil crisis won't be a crisis because the technology will really be free and people can improve upon the designs themselves.

I really hate "copyrights" patents and trade secrets these type of information hoarding is like what DEBeers does to keep the prices of diamonds high,It only matters if making profit is how you sustain yourself. And this system is built around maintaining greed exploitation and corruption.Open source is why we have such leaps iin technology like computers.And of course companies llooking for profit shut down that short burst of creativity with the lure of money that make very few creative minds wealthy.

Our profit system is evil.It deprives it limits and cocerces and shuts down innovation.

[Lorien]

15. Makes durable, long lasting paper too

as an artist I appreciate that. Hemp is part of America's history; even Thomas Jefferson grew it (and I'm not talking about the species used as reefer).

[SmokingJacket]

2. And.. let's hear it for vo-tech programs.

:thumbsup:

[MadHound]

4. A learning experience for all involved, and in more ways than one

And the kids are spot on with their analysis, a soybean/alternative fueled car is a huge threat to the oil corporations, so they will continue to squash any and all such development.

One thing though, soybeans produce more oil per acre than hemp. In fact the top oil producer per acre is the black oil sunflower. Hemp is like third or fourth on the scale.

That said, hemp is a huge threat to many entrenched industries. Oil, timber, cotton and many others would be threatened if hemp production started up. For not only does it have many consumer and industrial applications, it grows virtually anywhere and is good for the soil.

And as any ex grower can tell you, the quickest way to ruin a marijuana crop is to have a hemp crop nearby for cross pollination. That's one sure way to wind up with ditch weed.

[renate]

6. The date on this is February 17th

Is it just me, or shouldn't this have been big news?

It's got human interest, plus surely it would be a story dear to *'s heart, since he told us he wants to cure our addiction to foreign oil. Right after we go to Mars, I guess. These SOTU promises take a little time to deliver on.

[Kansas Wyatt]

8. CBS Evening News did give it air-time a few weeks ago.

It was not just a short clip, either. It was a rather lengthy news story.

The question that remains though, where have the auto makers been all these years, while petroleum has been a problem for the United States and who in the Hell is dictating America's technology and advancement?

Answer: Just take a whiff of Big Oil and their grip on the U.S. Government.

[bullwinkle428]

7. The students actually used a TDI engine (diesel) from a Volkswagen

to build this car; i.e. existing technology is fully capable of utilizing biofuels such as soybean oil or waste vegetable oil. Consumers need to realize that there are things out there RIGHT NOW that would allow us to reduce our dependence on oil, and major kudos to these kids for trying to bring more publicity to this idea...

[gauguin57]

9. They can call it a Soyota!

Or a Soybaru.

[wordpix]

19. Love it!

[slor]

10. Hemp and HR 3037...

this is a bill to remove it from the controlled substances list, and it was floated by rethug, Ron Paul of Texas. I heard the guy on Washington Journal too, I believe it was the Gov. of Montana. I cannot say that he was lying, as there are so many misperceptions about Hemp, but I do know this, it would actually negatively affect the MaryJane THC value, so that is a faulty argument in any event

[Deja Q]

11. Soybean food products cost a ton. BTW, where you gonna grow it all?

That's a shitload of soybeans to be used as fuel.

Better to use something more renewable that doesn't require thousands of acres instead...

[Joe_VB]

13. I would quit my mundane job and become a farmer.

Nothing like being out in the field working and fixing things.

[Lorien]

16. Soybean crops are destroying the rainforests of Brazil

which we all need to keep intact to regulate weather patterns and provide oxygen. A crop that grows faster and requires less water would indeed be preferable.

[wordpix]

18. but they can be grown in n. climate also and are good for soil

[jrw14125]

12. west philadelphia, born and raised...

[Deja Q]

14. This isn't The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air!

:rofl:

[wordpix]

17. unlike corn which depletes nitrogen in soil, soybeans ADD nitrogen & are a

"green" crop. So soybeans are better alternative to corn-ethanol because the latter needs lots of fertilizer and this is cheapest from a chemical mix.

I grew soybeans in my garden one year in n. Alberta and had a bumper crop---no pests and no pesticides/herbicides needed. Soybeans are truly a wonder crop that can be grown in temperate and northern climates and are good for soil, can feed the crowded planet and now, we can run cars on them!

WOW! Can't wait to hear what Big Oil and BushCo have to say about this. Probably, "Impossible!"