Petrol or Diesel?

For those of you who like to fuel your thirst for knowledge, here are a few facts to share around the dinner table. Did you know, Rudolf Diesel (pictured), the inventor of the diesel engine, originally designed it to run on vegetable oil? In fact, one of his early demonstrations, at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1897, had a diesel engine running on peanut oil.

Did you know the world produces about 100 times more biofuels now than it did ten years ago, and by its very nature, biofuels are renewable resources. Yes, I know some of you hard-core environmentalists are lining up to shoot me down, however, it is an alternative to oil-based products, right?

Did you also know that a diesel engine in a car is almost twice as efficient as a petrol engine? Diesel engines can reach 40% and even higher efficiency compared to a petrol engines. The sad fact is that a petrol car is only about 20% efficient. What I mean by that, is only 20% of the actual fuel burned is used to move the vehicle, the rest is lost to friction, noise, or engine functions. A large majority of the energy produced actually goes out of the exhaust as heat.

Leigh Hayward, KEE Fuel Manager

 

Picture: Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) copyright dieselnet.com