E15 may be on it's way to a gas station near you..

[guywheatley]

Of course I have no empirical data to go on, but it sure seems like a dairy farm could easily produce enough methane to run all of its equipment, and  generate at least a large part of its electrical needs. The farm folks I grew up with were amazingly self sufficient and could have fabricated every thing they would have needed to do it. But as a rule, they weren't much for thinking outside the box. In fact, most of them were pretty quick to ridicule anybody doing anything different.
One of the things that stopped any alternative fuel in southeast Arkansas was the equipment manufactures. I don't care how efficient ethanol or methane is, if John Deere says it will violate the warranty on that $140,000 combine you'll just keep busting down to the Farmers Co-op and fill-er up with diesel.
So, going methanol or ethanol will require buying older (and affordable) equipment that you will have to maintain yourself. It won't take many repairs or breakdowns at crucial times to eat up any savings on your fuel bill.

[kwale86]

Yep you make a good point.  All of the equipment / vehicles we buy are designed to run on petroleum products so that is what we use to be safe and not take a chance on damaging it.  I have an 82 Chevy pickup with a diesel and have thought about setting it up to run on veggie oil but have never had the time to set it up.

[lancer]

Of course I have no empirical data to go on, but it sure seems like a dairy farm could easily produce enough methane to run all of its equipment, and  generate at least a large part of its electrical needs. /font]

I have been in the dairy industry for several years and the only attempt at this that i know of in Texas was government funded and controlled (probably why it did not work) but it would not produce enough electricity to power the pumps and agitators that it required to operate.

[dgc67]

I saw a Dirty Jobs episode where a farmer used every bit of the excrement.  He used the methane to make electricity and the rest for fertilizer.  He had a VERY efficient set up.

[MagnaDaddy]

The guy who's been helping me rebuild the CB900C uses half Premium/ half E85 in his late 70's and early 80's Kawasaki 550's They have an old fashioned straight 4, air cooled engine and he swears it runs WAY better with that combo than it has ever run on regular unleaded....  or with any of the additives like SeaFoam 

[MarylandMagnav45]

You have to pay more for change.  Especially up front...

We always usually take the route of lowest energy.

So are most people really going to fnaggle their truck to run veggie?  no.

Too much work.