Which should be the vehicle fuel of the future? Hydrogen, bio fuel or what?

Question

There are so many cleaner alternatives now available to petrol. But which will be the petrol of the future? We must select one soon to avoid global warming. And whether you believe in global warming or not, surely you must agree that it would be prudent to start using clean fuels anyway.

I think it should be hydrogen, because the only waste product is water. What do you think, and why?

Answer 1

Okay, so where do you get the hydrogen from?
Don't tell me "electrolosys of seawater".
Where do you get the electricity for electrolysing seawater?
Oh, what? you burn fossil fuels?

We need to develop the Stirling Engine to a commercially usable system so that anything which burns can be used as a fuel for generating mechanical energy.

http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/StirlingEngine/index.html

In concert with these efforts, we need to re-structure agriculture to self-sustainably produce biomass fuels. If we start with oil-seed production, we can quickly feed this production back into agriculture to make it self sustaining.

There are numerous other measures which can be developed to create a society totally independent of fossil fuels.
Local wind turbine electricity generation and energy efficiency measures in the household and industry.

A fossil fuel independent society will need to be an entirely different economy. Sadly, the people with the money at the moment are dependent upon the fossil fuel economy to sustain their wealth. They will not relinquish this lightly. They will not use their money to "cut their own throats".

Cheers.

Answer 2

How about Vaporized Gasoline ? My Avatar is a Photo of a Device I've constructed that safely converts Regular Pump Gasoline into what is, for all intents and purposes, Propane, on the Vehicle ! 100 Parts of Air to 1 Part of Gasoline Fuel. This has the Potential to enable even the largest SUV to get 50 + MPG, and Emit 10 X less Pollution. Problem; all Gasoline Powered Vehicles in the U.S.A. from ' 96 to the Present are required by the E.P.A.-O.B.D. II Law to Operate at 14.7 Parts of Air, to 1 Part of Gasoline Fuel.Any deviation from that Government mandated Parameter, even if Fuel Economy is improved, and Emissions are Lowered, will result in a Failed Vehicle Inspection !Really! Under this insane Law, it is entirely possible to fail a Vehicle Inspection for not emitting enough Pollution ! The Vehicle can be Impounded, and the Driver Jailed under this insane Law that Al Gore helped to Pass, and fully supports! This only benefits the Big Oil Companies, and Auto Manufacturers ! I'm not the first to realize this. Far from it ! Go to http://energy21.freeservers.com/bookrep.html for even more Info.! Properly Utilized, Petrol could be the cleanest burning Fuel, but it'll never happen ! Thanks for Asking, though. Please go to My 360 page for an even better Photo.

Answer 3

If global warming is your only concern, hydrogen is probably the best choice. But the energy density -- the amount of driving you can do on one tank -- is much higher with liquid fuels like biodiesel. So hydrogen cars are less practical because their range is limited (although this may change with future technology).

Ethanol is another great choice for carbon-neutral fuel. While it does create carbon dioxide when it burns, the plants that are converted into ethanol REMOVE carbon from the atmosphere as they grow. With fossil fuels, that carbon has been sequestered underground for millions of years and there is no easy way to remove it when it's burned.

Answer 4

Two issues here really. We are running out of oil anyway so we will eventually stop using it. As for global warming it's too late for that. Hydrogen is no good, it takes as much or more energy to produce than it provides. We need to use oil to put in place the infrastructures that will use other fuels.
The only usable one in the future is knee oil....that you will need to use on your bicycle.

Answer 5

I thought biofuel was a green choice until I read an article in New Scientist. If the demand increases for biofuel, many countries will want to cash in and will rip up their rainforests. Food crops will not be grown and many people will starve. We cannot grow anywhere near enough in europe to satisfy our needs. It's not the answer. I would go for electric vehicles recharged from solar, wind or wave power. We also need to massively reduce the need for travel in the first place.

Answer 6

Hydrogen is a very clean fuel source, which makes it look very appealing, but the thing is, it is very volatile. It takes a lot of energy to isolate pure hydrogen, and transporting and storing it is dangerous. Until technology deals with these issues, biofuel is much more feasible. There are actually cars out there that can run on biofuel, but it isn't widely available yet.

Answer 7

I think,hydrogen is in the very course of being the future fuel,because it is the most compatible one with the nature.As far as I know,vehicles running on hydrogen have already been made,but big oil companies prevent them be on the market.

Answer 8

Wrong Hydrogen will burn much hotter than gasoline and produce Nitrogen oxide ,or photo chemical smog. Any fuel will do this if it uses air with nitrogen in it.
Hydrogen will leak through almost anything and is very explosive.

Answer 9

HA! I laugh that you do not know that I have already made the fuel of the future.. It can make ANY car/truck go upto 32 highway miles per gallon.. The government, however doesn't want to use it, because they would not make any money.... How ever... You COULD just ask me for it, but I DO live in Norway....

-Your fellow scientist (my fake name is below)
Ishmeal Robbins

Answer 10

Battery technology will improve so the all electric car will finally be a feasible replacement for gasoline powered vehicles. Hybrids will gradually become more and more electric vehicles with smaller gas engines until the technology improves enough to make the gasoline engines unnecessary. Lighter materials and more efficient designs will improve speed and range until they are competitive with gasoline cars.