Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests • Hacker News Board

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#101

Post by runako » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 8:56 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #77

runako wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously a choice, but also at 200mph it's obviously a vastly slower experience in a lot of way for many of the most-trafficked US domestic routes. Even at 300mph, which IIRC is much faster than normal operations on existing system, transcontinental travel becomes "too slow." The opposition would be insurmountable to making it take 12+ hours to travel from NYC to LA, for example. Effectively would split the continen…

Is ~400 million to ~4 billions excess deaths over the next ~50 years worth it? How many excess deaths is it worth? Everything is about trade offs. How much mortgaging of the future with are we comfortable with for today’s luxuries? Because this is a debt that will need to be paid back, potentially by someone not even yet born, through no fault of their own. At least the future can default on sovereign debt, it cannot…

I hear what you're saying, but it is also true that re-splitting the population would probably be more difficult politically than e.g. switching off all the fossil fuel generation plants east of the Mississippi or gently transitioning the US fleet to all-EV. As you said, everything is tradeoffs.

Which sucks, because I really would go for a US high-speed rail network.

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#102

Post by nosmokewhereiam » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 8:58 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #98

Retric wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cheaper than heather options Due to spoilage concerns grocery stores price food based on shelf stability not just production costs. Processed foods are generally shelf stable enough for this not to be a major concern. Similarly economies of scale apply in many situations. Slow cooking beans takes more energy the smaller the batch size due to surface area to volume ratios etc. Combined with the opportunity costs ass…

I bought over a pound of steak the other day for $5. (Yes, it was on sale. But it is frequently on sale.) Along with a potato for 50 cents, that's cheaper than a bag of Doritos. Oh, and I bought a banana for $.22. Cooking a steak takes about 10 minutes. Microwaving a TV dinner ($7.50) takes more time.

Wait til you find out what's in a $5 steak!

Our cheapest grass-fed tenderloin is $10 for a half pound cut. One. In a poor northern state.

We had that cow two years and didn't supplement grain. Cheap as you can grow them.

With a $5 steak, it might as well be corn chips.

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#103

Post by openasocket » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 8:58 PM UTC

leni536 wrote: post #83

openasocket wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a bad frame of mind in general. One of the primary ways industry tries to prevent regulation is by putting the burden on the individual. People think the only way we can have a healthy environment is by sacrificing things for the average person. And one of the worst things environmentalists can do is play along with that. In the US there's a push to ban plastic straws, which is annoying to the average…

The difference between removing plastic straws and reducing air travel is that reducing air travel would have an impact.

Sure, but as I said in my second example, forcing oil and natural gas companies to prevent methane leaks would have much more of an impact than reducing air travel, and requires no sacrifice for the average person. When considering which policies to advance, we should look at both the potential impact AND the democratic support for it.

Climate change deniers and polluters want to paint the environmental movement as a bunch of neo-Puritans that deride anything that isn’t the bare minimum of subsistence as immoral. And I worry they’ve done this for so long that some supporters of the environment are starting to believe the lie.

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#104

Post by asgraham » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 9:00 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #98

Retric wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cheaper than heather options Due to spoilage concerns grocery stores price food based on shelf stability not just production costs. Processed foods are generally shelf stable enough for this not to be a major concern. Similarly economies of scale apply in many situations. Slow cooking beans takes more energy the smaller the batch size due to surface area to volume ratios etc. Combined with the opportunity costs ass…

I bought over a pound of steak the other day for $5. (Yes, it was on sale. But it is frequently on sale.) Along with a potato for 50 cents, that's cheaper than a bag of Doritos. Oh, and I bought a banana for $.22. Cooking a steak takes about 10 minutes. Microwaving a TV dinner ($7.50) takes more time.

Microwaving takes less attention and less skill, though. And less cleanup. And you don’t need to own a pan. And you don’t need to own spices (steak is a bad example ofc). And you don’t need to think about the side dishes. And you don’t need to agree on what’s for dinner. And I think it’s worth repeating, you don’t need any skill and can’t really screw it up. And you don’t need to worry about it going bad because you were too lazy to cook it. Etc.

Processed food may not be cheaper, but the flavor:effort ratio is waaaaaay higher.

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#105

Post by emsign » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 9:01 PM UTC

The issue with bio fuel is the following: Due to climate change the overall area for food production in the world is shrinking. Bio fuel is directly competing with food.

The solution: Ditch carbon based fuels as much as possible and replace it with electric transport.

I know that it's currently unviable to use electric aircraft in almost all use cases except short range drones. But then the solution to that problem is to rely less on air travel and transport and use land based alternatives.

This is about vectors and incentives. Investing in bio fuels to get a 100% replacement for fossil fuels is not going to work and it only stalls what actually needs to happen which is a radical transport system change.

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#106

Post by tolien » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 9:07 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #98

Retric wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cheaper than heather options Due to spoilage concerns grocery stores price food based on shelf stability not just production costs. Processed foods are generally shelf stable enough for this not to be a major concern. Similarly economies of scale apply in many situations. Slow cooking beans takes more energy the smaller the batch size due to surface area to volume ratios etc. Combined with the opportunity costs ass…

I bought over a pound of steak the other day for $5. (Yes, it was on sale. But it is frequently on sale.) Along with a potato for 50 cents, that's cheaper than a bag of Doritos. Oh, and I bought a banana for $.22. Cooking a steak takes about 10 minutes. Microwaving a TV dinner ($7.50) takes more time.

This canard again [0]? You're comparing one piece of beef with a massive bag of Doritos. The banana's irrelevant, but last time you compared it to an enormous block of chocolate [1].

From experience a microwave meal should take about 3 minutes to cook so I don't know how you're taking more than 10 minutes unless, like your food item comparisons, you're cooking enough of them to feed an entire town.

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49312807

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49314864

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#107

Post by jrflowers » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #89

stevenwoo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NAFTA and successive treaties forced Mexico to allow much cheaper corn from the USA to displace many smaller corn farms in Mexico, only larger farms could survive that and farming of corn is declining in Mexico. Also inexpensive processed food displaced traditional diet goods at the same time for the same reasons, probably contributing to obesity epidemic that only started in Mexico after those treaties.

Processed foods are not cheaper than healthier options. People constantly repeat this, but it's flat out wrong. The best way to apologize for people who, is to say that they don't have enough time to cook between all the jobs they have.

> Processed foods are not cheaper than healthier options.

I have bad news for you about flour

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#108

Post by rotringlvr » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 9:12 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #98

Retric wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cheaper than heather options Due to spoilage concerns grocery stores price food based on shelf stability not just production costs. Processed foods are generally shelf stable enough for this not to be a major concern. Similarly economies of scale apply in many situations. Slow cooking beans takes more energy the smaller the batch size due to surface area to volume ratios etc. Combined with the opportunity costs ass…

I bought over a pound of steak the other day for $5. (Yes, it was on sale. But it is frequently on sale.) Along with a potato for 50 cents, that's cheaper than a bag of Doritos. Oh, and I bought a banana for $.22. Cooking a steak takes about 10 minutes. Microwaving a TV dinner ($7.50) takes more time.

When I was a grad student, I pointed this out to my poor neighbor with lots of health problems (5 pills a day!) who was shocked that I ate such expensive food despite being poorer still.

15 years later she's 50 lb lighter, takes no daily medication, and we have a mortgage and three kids. That's right, I fixed her up and married her.

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#109

Post by ALLTaken » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 9:17 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #64

europoorean wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a wealth transfer to support poor rural American communities My immediate reaction to this is: it's probably a wewlth transfer to the few landlords owning the land and probably charging higher rent, not to the communities. Of course I haven't analysed the data. If I am wrong, hopefully someone will feel compelled to correct me.

My understanding is that it caused the price of corn to go way up, meaning the poor in Mexico found food far more expensive. International markets and all that...

[flagged]

Re: Coconut oil jet fuel matches kerosene's efficiency in engine tests

#110

Post by bawolff » Sun, Aug 23, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

europoorean wrote: post #57

clickety_clack wrote: post #6

Do coconuts grow particularly efficiently? Edit: The US created biofuel subsidies a few years ago and it’s led to poor use of land with questionable climate impact. It’s effectively become a wealth transfer to support poor rural American communities, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but there’re probably more effective ways to do that intentionally.

> a wealth transfer to support poor rural American communities My immediate reaction to this is: it's probably a wewlth transfer to the few landlords owning the land and probably charging higher rent, not to the communities. Of course I haven't analysed the data. If I am wrong, hopefully someone will feel compelled to correct me.

Don't most farmers own their own farms? (or work on a corporate monstrosity farm).

How common is farm landlords?