What can replace cheap oil and when?

Answer 1

Hi,

Bio diesel from vegetable oil and its here now

Answer 2

Oil is not that cheap now and the price is quite likely to remain high.

My bet is that in ten years the US will have a variety of competing technologies with oil:

for air transport: oil or biofuel

for land vehicles; biofuel, oil, hydrogen, electric.

It may be that the gasoline engine will be being phased out in favour of more efficient diesels or even more environmentally friendly hydrogen or electric. It should be noted that hydrogen and electricity can be produced from fossil fuels in a carbon neutral way when the carbon is sequestered underground and I feel that this technology will be increasingly used..

Answer 3

I believe that the future lies in methanol - not ethanol, the alcohol found in drinks. The reason for the difference between the two is very simple - ethanol is difficult to produce dry, a fundamental requirment for combustion fuels. I know what most of you will think - yes but combustion is not a sustainable process. This is both true and false. Allow me to explain:

Clean combustion of methanol CH3OH will produce water, H2O and carbon dioxide, CO2. The carbon dioxide can be reduced back to methanol using the hydrogen from the water (extractable by use of electrolysis which can be fueled by the initial combustion of the methanol). Hence we regenerate the starting material - atom efficient.

Also we can produce methanol by the oxidation of methane (CH4), which is produced in wastewater treatment plant biogas generators! IN any case with some scientific work, we will soon be able to apply these simple principles, in quite a complex manner, to produce energy on large industrially viable scales. Although, when I say soon, it will probably be in about 30 - 40 yrs when unrenewable sources become too expensive, this is because of the larger petrochemical lobbies and cartels who will persist to dictate the rythmn of fossil fuel consumption.

Answer 4

Oil's not cheap! That's the whole problem! Big oil companies are making too much money out a non-renewable resource to want us consumers to be switching over to something else.

But there are alternatives, for which the technology is already available. Biodiesel is one, which is chemically similar to crude oil, but is what is called 'carbon neutral', which is to say that burning it produces no net increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (because the plant oil on which it's based is produced via photosynthesis using atmospheric carbon dioxide and solar energy).

Another is hydrogen, which got a bad rep from the Hindenburg disaster, but is actually a useful fuel. There's also an effectively unlimited supply, as you get two hydrogen atoms from every molecule of water, and when it's burnt, the water is reformed (i.e. truly zero emission). Provided you use a renewable source of energy (e.g. wave power, thermal energy gradient, solar, etc.) to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, it could be the answer to all our energy needs (especially if you add in the possibilities of fusion power for electricity).

There is also a new technology being beta-tested in the US at the moment that has the potential to be a source of fuel. It basically uses high pressures and temperatures to 'digest', well, just about anything (according to the story I read in New Scientist) down to long-chain hydrocarbons (chemically similar to crude oil) and mineral sludge. They're currently testing it as a means of disposing of farming waste (silage, offal, manure, etc.), which is carbon neutral.

But, as well as being a potential fuel source, this technology could also be a means of recycling previously unrecyclable products—plastics, noxious chemicals, electronic goods, etc.—that currently go into landfill (or to the third world for incineration). Of course, if fossil fuel–based products are used as a base, that won't produce carbon-neutral fuel (but it would produce raw materials that are currently being sucked out of the ground, therefore reducing the demand for crude oil and ores).

As to when it will happen, basiclally when enough people demand it. Even the biggest multinationals have to respond to consumer demand, and if the oil corporations see their market share slipping away in the direction of renewables technology, you can be sure they'll jump on the bandwagon just as fast as they can...

Answer 5

This is a very very big problem. Our economy is completely dependent upon oil as a source for energy. Huge amounts of oil.

So it needs a very very big solution. Some people say this one thing is the answer. I think we'll need all of them.

Nuclear power, solar power, wind power, biofuels, and, perhaps most of all, energy conservation. If anyone has another answer I'd just add it to the list.

With more science work, clean coal technologies, tidal power, deep ocean thermal power. With a lot more science work (many years) fusion power and solar power satellites.

We'll need them all.

Answer 6

Maybe it's a case of looking back rather than forward. We could go back to using horse power to get around locally and maybe bring the canals back into use for wider travel/distribution. Solar panels on every roof would help for heating. We would all have to get used to spending holidays locally and working locally and walking a lot!!! Hey sounds a bit like my childhood and that wasnt so bad.
Valery

Answer 7

.Hydrogen is probably the candidate.
Alcohol would work except there isn't enough land in the world
to grow enough corn to produce that much for the worlds
conumption.

Hydrogen can be produced cheaply but storage and distribution is a problem.
Bio Diesel is a cleaner fuel (than regular diesel) but again it is grown from corn and beans, In years when countrys suffer major droughts like this year and crop production is down 20 percent, you might have to make a choice between eating and driving....

Answer 8

Nuclear Fusion probably in the next 50 to 100 years.

Answer 9

Horses

Answer 10

Sugar
Ferment the sugar into alcohol.
The main sugar producing regions in the world need investment so we would be encouraging a fairer trade.