Is a fuel combustion economy sustainable?

Question

This is a question I proposed in response to klslaws question about ethanol as an alternative to gasoline in order to keep my answer brief. To expand on my meaning, which I have been considering since I proposed the question and just resolved to myself while mowing my lawn with a gasoline fueled lawnmower, I am suggesting that the whole question of alternative fuels is not that one miracle answer will solve the problem so we can continue with our established ways of life but that the real answer lies in considering all options and implementing them as the market and people's preferences allow. For myself, the answer is a return to simplicity and the most natural alternatives but for a huge population the answer must be to create a viable holistic solution that finds answers in all the potentials available. I hope one day to return to riding a horse and even driving a wagon as one of my means of transportation but current conditions do not allow it. The "real" answer is to find your's.

Great answers, but what's "qwerty" besides a line of keystrokes?

Great klslaw! We'll have a manual of sustainable wisdom by the time this goes to vote. Love, Rob

Answer 1

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question on this subject; I'll try to return the favor. Unfortunately, I do not think the horse-drawn buggy days are returning any time soon, in spite of those of us would love to return to a simpler time. The more people that are born into the world, the more and the faster we have to work to get that little square of land we call home, and the goods we need to survive and live according to our desires. Working more and faster means that horses are not a viable option for getting anything done at an acceptable pace. The only options that will sell these days are those that will bring us what we want and need now, without much regard for how our use of energy will affect the future.

I think a fuel combustion economy is sustainable, but stands a better chance if it is part of a very broad list of energy options. I think a fuel combustion economy is even more sustainable if we construct our infrastructure to use energy much more efficiently. I think just two improvements on our infrastructure would greatly increase the sustainability of fuel combustion as part of our energy use:

1. People need to be disincentivized to drive their cars. We need to get the railroads back up and running again, both for getting people to and from work, and for bringing me my purchases from Amazon.com. We need to greatly expand the rail system for transporting people (especially in my home town of Los Angeles!). Mass, energy-efficient transportation of goods and people needs to become the cheapest, best, fastest, and favorite transportation option for businesses and individuals.

2. We need to make solar energy fixtures standard for all new buildings, even if it is only part of the energy source for the buildings.

Answer 2

We can sustain a way of life similar to what we know today but only if we get really responsible, really fast.

The least popular and most verifiably pressing problem is a current global population that was never (and could never have been) supported without the dubious benefits petroleum provided.

Our fertilizers, farming methods (huge tractors), transporting of food from farm to table, feed for livestock, etc, all depend on affordable crude stocks.

While most industrialized nations have instinctively reduced population growth to replacement levels, others have exploded. Without cheap fuel of some sort (replacements are desperately needed) the harsh fact is that food will become too expensive for those poorer populations.

There is a birth-control injection that lasts a full year. If everyone (and especially people in those more populous nations) used this to help them wait till later to start families and to have far fewer children, the world's population could comfortably return to natural levels simply by attrition.

If we could achieve a global total of, say 1 or 2 billion by 2070 (don't know if that's realistic), things would be a lot more promising.





qwerty

Answer 3

I agree with you about finding the "real" answer within oneself.

Take the the example of the lawn mower.

1) If it is a very small lawn, then one can consider a manual lawn mower, with the added benefit of the physical exercise for oneself.

2) If it is a relatively large lawn, one has options of either using the manual mower or a gasoline-powered one. With the manual mower, a group of people can take turns to collectively finish the job.

Gasoline (or any other type of fuel for that matter) is an important fuel resource that needs to be preserved and at the same time be used for the various needs of Mankind

Answer 4

Indeed, the question is quite simple. We only have to keep in mind that there are 3 different directions to follow:

- increase the share of renewable energy
- increase energy efficiency (use and convert the different forms of energy in the most efficient way)
- decreasing and managing energy demand

That´s why we speak about the "energy triangle" and every time, we have to keep costs in mind and start where the costs are minimal.

Indeed, costs in some cases can even be negative, for example through better insulating your house. If you have small shoping to do and you can walk, the cost is negative since the physical effort increases your life expectancy and you save gas.

Answer 5

Combustion unfastened is a huge theory and in time i think of that photograph voltaic, electric powered or in spite of would be a practicable gasoline. yet interior the close to destiny we basically can’t do it. The technologies basically isn’t there for it to artwork; the vehicle could be too heavy and under powered from the photograph voltaic panels or the batteries. additionally there could ought to be charging stations like we've gasoline stations now and the fee for that to take place is basically too super. for this reason to me Bio fuels are the subsequent step; this is created without impact on the nutrition industry with oil produced from algae (look into a business company stated as valcent). i wish this exchange into effective, and interior the destiny i think of combustion unfastened would be a good gasoline I basically think of technologies limits its use now

Answer 6

You can think of other alternatives like nuclear energy to keep things going without too much dependency on carbon based fuels. Will also avoid global warming.

Answer 7

Fossil fuels are recycled by the plants and is part of the CO2 recycle of our air. WE should never run out of fossil fuels . The Coal is the oldest fossil fuel and we need to use it first before it oxidizes due to old age.