Make Your Own Fuel for Your Car
How would you like to make fuel for your car for the low, low, price of $9995? Well, someone has come up with a way for you to do just that, the EFuel100, Earth’s First Home Ethanol System.
Home Ethanol Refinery
This device is essentially a still. You know, just like Snuffy Smith and Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies had. Just with an old fashioned still you put in sugar and yeast and in a week or so you have your very own “White Lightening” you can run your vehicle with. According to their site, the device can manufacture about 35 gallons of ethanol in a week. As you might guess, you don’t want to be taking a swig since the resulting liquid would be too impure and dangerous for human consumption. There are other, safe, ways for you to make your own hooch at home.
In the US, you’ll need to get a permit from the Treasury Department to make your own ethanol (Dang Revinoors!). You may also need state, county or city authorization as well. In other countries you’ll need to find out what local laws apply. Also, so far as the US government goes, you also get an alternative fuels tax break that can be worth nearly $3500.
Cost Effective or Not?
Most cars can run successfully on ethanol. While you may not want to operate a high performance and temperamental sports car with it, it should work fine in the average family vehicle. In fact, it may be more efficient than gasoline in terms of gas mileage and performance.
As for cost of the operation, it would allow you to make your own fuel for roughly $1.25 a gallon according the EFuel’s website. This would give you a full return on investment in about 18 months, provided that gasoline costs remain at $3.50 over that time period and that there are no massive fluctuations in the sugar market.
Green Concerns
These concerns are actually rather minor. One of the main criticisms of biofuels is that it takes food crops and makes fuel out of them, primarily corn. The crop that’s used for the EFuel device is sugar, as in sugar cane. There is almost always a massive surplus of sugar, unlike corn which rarely is a surplus crop. Also, sugar production is much more efficient than corn production which also lowers the ‘footprint’ of this method of fuel production. Lastly, home production eliminates a lot of evaporation waste that occurs during other automotive fuel production.
What do you think? Would you buy one of these devices?
You know, I might just buy an Ethonal Refinery when I buy my house. That’s a nice ROI that also removes my dependence on the Oil tycoons. Hooray for two birds with one stone.
Hi Vinny,
I’d like one of these too but it is a pretty hefty upfront investment. I’ve bought cheaper cars than what the EFuel unit costs.