U.S. Air Force tests biofuel at $59 per gallon

[OutHouse]

holy hell!! wtf! we cant visit the white house due to money but the governemnt can pay $59.00 in biojet fuel? Regular Jet fuel is $3.60 a gallon

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/15/us-usa-military-biofuels-idUSBRE86E01N20120715

(Reuters) - The U.S. Navy angered Republicans by spending $26 a gallon for biofuels for this week's Great Green Fleet demonstration, but the Air Force received little attention when it paid twice as much per gallon to test synthetic jet fuel last month.

The Air Force bought 11,000 gallons of alcohol-to-jet fuel from Gevo Inc, a Colorado biofuels company, at $59 a gallon in a program aimed at proving that new alternative fuels can be used reliably in military aircraft - once, that is, their pricing is competitive with petroleum, which now costs $3.60 a gallon.

The cost of the Air Force demonstration - $639,000 - was far less eye-catching than the $12 million the Navy spent for biofuels to power a carrier strike group on alternative energy for a day

 

[JTsyo]

$59 a gallon in a program aimed at proving that new alternative fuels

news flash - things in development cost more than mass produced. Next up costs for other prototypes the army is working on.

 

[OutHouse]

news flash - things in development cost more than mass produced. Next up costs for other prototypes the army is working on.

news flash. if enough fuel is made to power a carrier group for a day, its not being made in some dudes garage with grease he got from mcdonalds.

Bottom line is our country can not afford this type of reckless spending. period.

 

[Matt1970]

Biodiesel from soybeans costs an estimated $2 to $2.50 per gallon to produce. Biodiesel from yellow grease is about $1 a gallon cheaper, but the available supply in the U.S. is much smaller – enough to make 100 million gallons per year.

http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/biofuels/fact_biodiesel.htm#4

 

[Nintendesert]

http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/biofuels/fact_biodiesel.htm#4

Seems like a pretty good deal then. :thumbsup:

 

[cubby1223]

Probably just a way to get around earmarks to pump taxpayer money into alternative energy companies. The alternative would be giving the biofuel company $600k in grants then buying the fuel at competitive market prices. They went the opposite route this time.

 

[irishScott]

Well it looks like our air force is trying to...



..save the planet. YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

 

[2timer]

Well it looks like our air force is focusing on...


:thumbsdown:
..saving the planet. YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

This has nothing to do with saving the planet and everything with political connections and the military being a wasteful, incompetent bureaucracy per usual. Although your post was quite funny

 

[woolfe9998]

news flash. if enough fuel is made to power a carrier group for a day, its not being made in some dudes garage with grease he got from mcdonalds.

Bottom line is our country can not afford this type of reckless spending. period.

So what do you propose we do when the cost of a new type of fuel is expensive before mass production and economies of scale will bring it down. Not test it no matter its potential?

 

[Genx87]

Ahh all we need to do is expand the system 10 fold and the price will fall to 10 bucks a gallon. Think of it as stimulus for the alternative energy field that is going to fuel(pun intended) the next age of growth in this country.

 

[Lithium381]

it's for the childr...

it looks like it's for the environment . . . . man those liberals and their alternative energies . . . oh wait

 

[xBiffx]

Pentagon: "What Sequester?"

 

[OutHouse]

Ahh all we need to do is expand the system 10 fold and the price will fall to 10 bucks a gallon. Think of it as stimulus for the alternative energy field that is going to fuel(pun intended) the next age of growth in this country.

lol yea right.

 

[OutHouse]

So what do you propose we do when the cost of a new type of fuel is expensive before mass production and economies of scale will bring it down. Not test it no matter its potential?

nice try spinning this. bottom line is spending $59.00 per gallon of fuel is WASTEFUL!

 

[woolfe9998]

nice try spinning this. bottom line is spending $59.00 per gallon of fuel is WASTEFUL!

I'm not trying to spin here. I'm afraid you didn't answer my question.

 

[irishScott]

Nation: "What Sequester?"

Fixed. We were all told this sequester would be the harbinger of the next apocalypse. And yet life goes on...

 

[Fenixgoon]

holy hell!! wtf! we cant visit the white house due to money but the governemnt can pay $59.00 in biojet fuel? Regular Jet fuel is $3.60 a gallon

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/15/us-usa-military-biofuels-idUSBRE86E01N20120715

military aircraft engines != commercial aircraft engines.

military fuel may have certain chemistry, combustion, thermophysical, lubricity, and hydraulic property requirements in addition to things like storage requirements.

nothing is ever quite as simple as it appears with military-grade stuff.

 

[blankslate]

The military has participated in R&D before. R&D is a necessary component of a healthy economy imo, even if some of research goes nowhere, because there are enough projects that lead to practical applications to justify the investment.

Some of those projects change society in amazing ways. For example the way this subject is being discussed.

 

[zinfamous]

news flash. if enough fuel is made to power a carrier group for a day, its not being made in some dudes garage with grease he got from mcdonalds.

Bottom line is our country can not afford this type of reckless spending. period.

it's not reckless spending, you dolt. it's part of testing--proof of concept. that's the fucking point.

 

[zinfamous]

nice try spinning this. bottom line is spending $59.00 per gallon of fuel is WASTEFUL!

holy crap, really? you're the one that spun the topic into a hilariously misguided non-issue by ignoring the R&D component--which is budgeted, which exists year to year to year which is part of everything.

you're starting to sound like Incorruptible-lite.

 

[wirednuts]

im all for sequestering military spending 75% while still holding the title for the most powerful military in the world.

 

[Pulsar]

nice try spinning this. bottom line is spending $59.00 per gallon of fuel is WASTEFUL!

I think you're failing to grasp the idea of a demonstration, and research and development.

For instance, the first Toyota Prius lost them money. Yet continued development and a large capital investment finally allowed them to bring the costs down to break even with the latest model.

Yet, you complain about spending money to develop a fuel that reduces our reliance on foreign oil products (critical if we ever go to war) and completely ignore the whole developement cycle.

News flash: there isn't a single defense program that makes a profit for the US government. Along your lines of reasoning, you might as well classify the entire US Defense budget as a waste. Which is exactly what I believe you'd do, given the chance.

 

[michal1980]

IMHO this is the kind of stuff government should spend money on. IE things others would never do.

 

[Triumph]

OP obviously does not understand the simplest principle of R&D - spend money up front to save money in the long term. Outrage not found.

 

[ichy]

It's a technology test/demonstration. Do you have any idea how R&D works?