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How close are we to commercial use of an alternative fuel?
    #6718583 -

This is just for my personal knowledge (as well as other Shroomerites). I would like the answers in two-fold: technologically and politically.

How close are we in the US to having the technology to safely implement a hydrogen powered vehicle to the masses?
How close are we politically? (Not close, I know :nonono: )

Are there currently any other plausible forms of alternative fuel?


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:gc:
Madtowntripper said:Or just give her a cloroform soaked rag and tell her it's ether!

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Re: How close are we to commercial use of an alternative fuel? [Re: MistaUNGA]
    #6718652 -

We already have alternative fuel sources in use at commercial pump stations here in the US. These include biodiesel, natural gas, and other fuels. They are not by any means omnipresent yet, but they will be soon. When? When most people have vehicles requiring them.


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delta9

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Re: How close are we to commercial use of an alternative fuel? [Re: MistaUNGA]
    #6719215 -

> How close are we in the US to having the technology to safely implement a hydrogen powered vehicle to the masses?

I got to drive an experimental GM Impact (electric car) for a few weeks back in 1992. It was an impressive vehicle, but the concept never went anywhere.

We have had the technology to build hyper-low-MPG cars for a long, long time. However, between the oil companies and consumer expectations, nothing has ever been put onto the market (in the US). Low-MPG cars tend to be small, light, low power, don't accelerate quickly, and have weak air conditioners... the exact opposite of the US burley-man/soccer-mom image.

Hydrogen power isn't the end-all that some make it out to be. We still have to create the hydrogen, which requires electricity, which creates pollution (even nuclear pollution for the fission happy crowd). Water vapor, the result of burning hydrogen with oxygen, is also a very nasty greenhouse gas... much worse than CO2.

The only real solution to our energy problems is going to be along the lines of fusion power or something else in the science fiction realm (zero point energy, etc). Anything we currently use to produce power, from hydroelectric plants to fission based nuclear power, is detrimental to the environment in one manner or another. By touting "green" technology, we are simply moving the problem somewhere else, usually increasing costs, increasing inefficiencies, and producing more pollution in the long run.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: How close are we to commercial use of an alternative fuel? [Re: Seuss]
    #6719226 -

The most efficient 'car' at this time gets 12,665 miles per gallon, but it's not very practical.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-marathon


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futuretribe.space

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Re: How close are we to commercial use of an alternative fuel? [Re: cybrbeast]
    #6719255 -

Quote:
The cars in this competition are highly impractical for consumer use. They carry no passengers, and the driver is forced into an uncomfortable position in order to reduce aerodynamic drag. The cars are designed to achieve maximum efficiency at 15 miles per hour (mph), and some are incapable of exceeding 30 mph. They have few safety or comfort features, and most are not street legal.


heh

It's a start, tho.. :shrug:

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Re: How close are we to commercial use of an alternative fuel? [Re: MistaUNGA]
    #6719466 -

Hydrogen fuel cells are not an answer to our fuel problems. Hydrogen is not a source of energy, it is a carrier of energy as Seuss pointed out.

Ethanol is not the answer. Ethanol is being produced in the U.S. using corn which means corn meant for food is taken off the market. So corn becomes more expensive and corn is used as feed for livestock making poultry and beef more expensive. About a pound of corn goes into making a pound of chicken and about three pounds are needed for beef.

"If every one of the 70 million acres on which corn was grown in 2006 was used for ethanol, the amount produced would displace only 12 percent of the U.S. gasoline market. Moreover, the "new" (non-fossil) energy gained would be very small -- just 2.4 percent of the market. Car tune-ups and proper tire air pressure would save more energy."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301625.html

Also you have to remember that harvesting corn and converting it to fuel itself uses petroleum..the machines harvesting it use it, the pesticides and fertilizer also use petroleum. And the EROEI (Energy Returned On Energy Invested) is very small.

What we need to solve our energy problem is a REAL commitment by the federal government YESTERDAY, not lip service. We need a massive undertaking like the Manhattan Project to find a new source of energy. Then we must overhaul our entire transportation fleet, completely replacing the fuel-delivery infrastructure. When you consider the incredible amount of money and time needed to complete this unprecedented transformation you may understand why our "leaders" are not dealing with this issue in any meaningful way.

I would suggest you not look further into this issue unless you want to be profoundly disturbed by its implications.


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“The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.”  -- Rudiger Dornbusch

Edited by zorbman (03/28/07 11:08 AM)

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Re: How close are we to commercial use of an alternative fuel? [Re: zorbman]
    #6719928 -

cannabis

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