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I got a message today from Don Scott the Director of Sustainability for the National Biodiesel Board that described Neil Young's Lincvolt. There are plans for featuring this project in an upcoming issue of Diesel Power.
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world. Rocker and Activist Neil Young Supports Domestic Clean Energy
Hollywood, Florida - "The U.S. biodiesel industry could support as many as 78,000 good American jobs and displace 97 million barrels of imported petroleum," said rock legend Neil Young at Thursday afternoon press conference. "In 2009, biodiesel added $4.1 billion to the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and supported jobs in all sectors of the economy while reducing carbon and other harmful emissions."
The event, held at the Seminole Hard Rock Café, featured Neil Young's biodiesel-powered project called Lincvolt. Lincvolt is a cutting edge, hybrid-electric prototype that uses a biodiesel-powered generator to recharge batteries powering a zero-emissions electric motor. This combination of biodiesel and electric batteries give Lincvolt a range of over 400 miles, and the efficient, biodiesel-powered turbine engine and electric motor allow Lincvolt to achieve a whopping 80 miles per gallon.
"Lincvolt could be rated as a partial zero emissions vehicle, and using biodiesel would emit less CO2 than even an all electric car powered by the California grid," said a senior executive of Capstone Turbine Corporation, manufacturer of the microturbine generator used in Lincvolt, as well as numerous other vehicles and stationary power generating applications.
This revolutionary technology is showcased in the body on a 1959 Lincoln Continental Convertible. The heaviest convertible ever built by Ford at the time of its manufacture, this 6,200 pound behemoth begs the question, that if we can achieve this level of efficiency and reduced emissions with 3 tons of recycled Detroit steel, what could be possible if biodiesel were paired with hybrid technology in mainstream vehicles of today?
"It's doubtful that Ford engineers from 1959 could have predicted the transformation that would eventually become Lincvolt," said National Biodiesel Board's Director of Sustainability, Don Scott. "But it's clear that today's engine manufactures are planning for renewable fuels. Every major engine manufacture approves some level of biodiesel in their vehicles today. Ford is leading the industry by proudly displaying a B20 logo right on the door of every 2011 Super Duty pickup. This indicates they build an American truck that burns American fuel."
The Energy Information Administration reports that the U.S. now imports 65 percent of its petroleum-spending a billion dollars a day to buy fuel from other countries. That equates to more than $600,000 every minute of every day that could be spent bettering our own communities if we used domestic clean energy instead of imported fossil fuels. Scott pointed out these statistics in a plea to the U.S. Congress to renew the lapsed biodiesel tax credit. Scott credited the lapse of this tax policy with the shuttering of U.S biodiesel plants and the loss of those good American jobs.
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