There's a pretty reasonable chance (I'd like to think) that, much akin to the accounting scandals, etc. of the late 90s and 2000s, there will be some sort of additional regulation of the energy industry after this whole Katrina thing. I don't know how far the efforts would go with "W" at the helm - don't forget, Iraq's oil is colored a bloody Crimson, and his family's (and his own) fortunes are mostly/all in oil - as well as Cheney's.....pretty much all those neo-Cons. Either it's the source of their own wealth, or their friends'/political supporters (anybody agree that 100% public funding of federal campaigns should be instituted?).
I heard some CEO who was on CNN Headline News or something like that last night, who was flying a jet he chartered with his own money, delivering food/water/etc. he bought with his own money, saying that the oil companies pull in $29 or $39 BILLION a QUARTER!!! It may only be a matter of time before the domestic energy industry is regulated, which makes WAY more sense than my other notion of nationalizing the whole thing (which I did not express here on this forum). It's the best of capitalism and nationalism all rolled up into one.
I'm interested about this 900-1000HP thing, though. This is right along the lines of my original quest - to find a fuel/blend with a high energy density. Does anybody know about the comparisons between toluene and gasoline, in terms of BTUs? I understand 125-130 octane rating = higher compression = more power/more thermal efficiency, but even in a lower-compression setup, such as say 9:1, what's the result? How much would one have to modify a stock fuel delivery system to run on pure toluene? What would it do to the delivery components (from fuel filler orifice to injector, and everything in between)? I assume the BTU answer are found in that 2nd book, the automotive fuels one?
I've been trying to think of ways of accurately measuring different fuels for purposes of measuring BTUs. I can't think of any practical, laboratory-accurate ways though - anybody have any ideas?