Diesel in the present

Diesel is a very common source of energy, especially for the manufacturing industry, by definition, diesel itself is:

"die·sel

[Dee-zuhl]

adjective 

1. noting a machine or vehicle powered by a diesel engine: diesel locomotive. 

2. of or pertaining to a diesel engine: diesel fuel. 

noun

3. diesel engine.

4. a vehicle powered by a diesel engine. 

5. diesel fuel. "

(Random House, Inc. 2011) Diesel definition, dictionary.com

I've always known diesel goes further and lasts longer than petroleum but I've never really looked into how, why or what else it does.

Apparently diesel takes a lot less refining and is actually cheaper to produce. the price increase was due to the high demand in the 2004 from china and the USA. Most commercial and industrial machinery relies heavily on the production of diesel, this tied in with the increase in demand of fuel itself has led to its price to drastically increase over the years. (Brain, M 2005). How Diesel Engines Work

A typical diesel engine (diesel-engine.cn 2008)

This is an interesting fact, diesel itself actually creates less greenhouse gasses than petroleum, even though diesel is renown as being the "dirtier" of the two. This is due to diesel containing more carbon chains, which release more energy with nitrogen as a major bi-product compared to petroleum which releases carbon monoxide as its major bi-product. HOWEVER, diesel is one of the major leaders of acid rain and it creates a lot more soot than petrol and gasoline, thus the "dirty" quality. 

(Brain, M 2005). How Diesel Engines Work

"Diesel fuel is used to power a wide variety of vehicles and operations. It of course fuels the diesel trucks you see lumbering down the highway, but it also helps move boats, school buses, city buses, trains, cranes, farming equipment and various emergency response vehicles and power generators."

(Brain, M 2005). How Diesel Engines Work

Some literal diesel stained jeans (Sadish, A 2010)

Another literal sense of diesel is the brand DIESEL, who manufacture perfumes, watches, jeans and other branded clothing. As the name suggests, DIESEL is associated with a "grunge" style of clothing, lived in and working clothes as a fashion.

The diesel logo (diesel.com 2011)

The main colour palette of the diesel style is a very matted brown giving the illusion of greases and wear marks on their brands without them actually being worn down. The diesel brand logo is a very simplistic red box, which looks almost like a stamp, leading more to the industrial influences.

(Gili Fort, E. 2005). Branded Hedonism.

When looking into the diesel brand i found information on biodiesel, fuel that is created from oils and fats. Biodiesel as a fuel has many upsides and downsides compared to regular fossil fuel diesel including the lower output of greenhouse gasses and the non toxicity in the fuel itself.

 (although this point is highly debated and argued over) 

(University of Strathclyde 2011). What is Biodiesel.)

While on the topic of bio diesel, I started looking at scientific labs and how they're represented in movies and media, an actual science lab. The difference is incredible, in reality space is optimised and everything is clean and precise, and frankly uninspiring.

a modern day science lab (yearofscience.com 2010)

compared to:

A scene from a science lab in the new captain America film (Paramount Pictures 2011)

As you can see, media represents science labs as dim, poorly lit massive rooms with little evidence of sterilisation and a whole lot of people standing around. Another movie cliche is the NASA ground control esque rows of control panels, graph readers and radars with a lot of people sitting down occasionally pushing buttons. Of course, if science labs were represented as they actually are then movies would lose their dynamic view of the lab and the film would be less entertaining.

"Movies, by their nature, rely on certain conventions to keep things moving alone"

(Pickavance M. 2009) 100 movie clichés

While looking at the Science lab from the captain America film, There was an interesting article on the digital pyrotechnics which led me into my next area of study: Modern pyrotechnics.

(Greene, L. 2010). Lindsay Greene's pyrotechnics website

Amazing visual affects in the film "hurt locker" (Steven. 2011)

The article has a lot of information and instructions on how to create your own pyrotechnics as well as how all the professional ones are created. This information could be incredibly useful for creating either a movie or a game as you can get scientifically accurate effects.

A simple firework effect made using the knowledge of pyrotechnics (ffxap-ltd.com 2008)

Looking back at the topic at hand, diesel has been often interpreted as the "villain" of toys, games and movies, a prime example is the character named "Diesel" from the Thomas the tank engine universe.

"Oily, scheming and ever ready to stir up trouble in the shed, Diesel's characteristic smirk is a sure sign that somebody, somewhere, is in for a bit of trouble."

(Christine, tootin thomas toys. 2008) Tootin thomas toys, Diesel. 

                              

Diesel, one of the antagonists in Thomas the tank engine (Gullane T 2011)

The character Diesel is a good example of a character designed around the public opinion and popularity at the time of a certain subject. as the diesel fuel when he was conceived was a known as "oily" and "dirty" such as the dieselworks image from another Thomas the tank engine scene.

(Gullane T 2011). Thomas & friends website.

Another antagonist: Diesel 10 in front of the very dirty dieselworks (ttte.wikia.com 2011)

One of the many train related books on Amazon (Marsdon C 2011) 


When Searching Amazon for books on diesel to find out how popular diesel is in books, i found that almost every single top result was to do with either trains or Thomas the tank engine (so more trains) showing that the tie between diesel and trains is incredibly strong.

While looking into diesel as a fuel itself combined with books, i looked into the autotrader and top gear magazines. These magazines are based around cars, motorbikes and other forms of transport rather than the fuel itself but they make reference and compare it on a lot of occasions.

The front cover to the top gear magazine (topgear.com 2011)

The authors of the top gear magazine regularly compare diesel as a fuel source for cars. Unlike other forms of media, the authors dont have a biased opinion on diesel or treat it as a "dirty" topic, unlike like the Diesel brand of clothing shown earlier. Other Fuel sources such as electric, petroleum and bio-diesel fuel are also mentioned and compared a lot in the Top gear magazine. (Clarkson J. 2011). Top gear magazine.

My research into the present of diesel has left me with some drastic conclusions of how its interpreted in today's society, its interpreted as a very dirt and obsolete energy source that is often tied in with the villain or the bad guys of media. the biggest observation is the constant association with dirt and grease. In my past research i will look into the more practical uses for diesel such as trains and transportation. before the fuel became more obsolete. I will also research into how the past vied the affects of global warming.