garbage cars

im not quite sure if this is the right place for this but here it goes

one of my friends was telling me about one of his friends who lived down in the states (we live in canada) and he invented a car/engine that could run off of garbage (any kind) instead of gas and was inexpensive. now a thing like this would make oil/gas companies loose a huge amount's of money, and now the guy who invented this thing has been missing for like 3 weeks. im not sure a lot about the story though because we didnt talk about it very long and i just rememberd it now. also i heard (not sure it true) that the person who invented the hydroelectric power sourse (or maybe wind energy or something) was assassinated and most people think it was by the oil and gas companies

hmmm...That sounds way too similar to Back To The Future 2...

Did you happen to find out how it ran on garbage, and what kind of garbage? People have different ideas as to what garbage is...I could try to force this thread into the car, but I doubt that would make it run... Spose that garbage is too weak

Do they still use a combustion engine, or is it something different? Finally, why haven't they gotten this patented, and why hasn't the oil industry tried to buy it from them as they have done with other alternative energy sources?

I have to say it does sound alot like Back to the future 2.

Machines have been invented that run on organic substances though. I know of one robot that gets its power from flies it digest and another that digest sugar cubes for energy. This digestion fuels the batteries of the robot but its quite a small amount of energy.

So Organic garbage can be turned in to energy that say a electric car could use. But it not like in Back to the future were he threw the soda can in as well with your banana peel that wont work.

I doubt you could power a car with any type of garbage glass , metal , paper , plastic. But organic garbage that could be very well be possible.

well to specify the garbage that you put in a trash can and not one on the computer, stuff like rapers and that kind of stuff, also im not sure how it worked, like i said we didnt talk about very long but next time i see him ill ask him if he knows. and from what i can remember of back to the future 2 i guess it does sound simaler but i havnt seen it in a long time

[edit on 31-3-2005 by trust_no_one]

Here you go:
Mr. Fusion?

It's a (more or less) comprehensive guide to convert your car to run on garbage. (that's french for trash, right?)

Originally posted by Carlthulhu
Here you go:
Mr. Fusion?

It's a (more or less) comprehensive guide to convert your car to run on garbage. (that's french for trash, right?)

i believe there doing this now with garbage disposal sites,,,,where through layering,,,,some pipes,,, and certain organisms they add they will get a gas through basically "composting" that can be trapped and stored

but it's not like dumping a garbage bag in the tank and going off down the street

plus this is a very slow,,,time intensive process

no man, it's more akin to syngas. Here's a link to the wikipedia article:

Gasification relies on chemical processes at elevated temperatures >700°C, which distinguishes it from biological processes such as anaerobic digestion that produce biogas.

In effect they burn, say, woodchips under pressure, and then add steam or whatnot. The resulting gasses are rerouted to your existing cars engine.
It's been used since the 1800s, but was on hold due to cheaper pertoleum.