What is a realistic plan for the future of energy?

Question

Politicians can spout off about global warming till their blue in the face but they never offer a good alternative to fossil fuels. Let's prove that the people of this country are smarter than they are. Give me a recommendation for an energy plan that is affordable, clean and plentiful. Is coal the way to go now that emmisions can be controlled? What about fuel-cells? Can we make solar power affordable? Give me your thoughts.

Answer 1

Ok, here is one *sensible* plan for the future, and one that is a bit "out there". ^_^ Let's see which one, if not both, takes.

--I am personally all for fuel cell technology myself, but....we cannot just focus entirely on the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology. Yes it is the most efficient, least polluting technology of the bunch, and you know what? It is also the most expensive and least compact as well. And frankly we *cannot* sit on our hands and wait for someone else to stick a hydrogen infrastructure out there so PEM fuel cells can even be used. That is what Big Oil and the Big Auto companies expect us to do, to just sit and wait while they dawdle our time away doing nothing because they are "chasing perfection" as an excuse.

We need to look into ALL fuel cell technologies, including the slightly polluting high-temperature ones like "molten carbonate" and "metal oxide" designs that we can use with methane (compressed natural gas), methanol, and propane (liquified petroleum gas). Will they produce carbon dioxide? Yes, slightly. But they are usable *right now* with fuels *we have* infrastructure for. And they can be used with fuels we can make in *biomass* as well.

And....even a "dirty" fuel cell is going to produce 90% less CO2 than even your *best* gasoline engines do now. We really *can't* make internal combusion engines, at their cleanest, run *as clean* as a fuel cell does *at its high-temperature, auto-cracking dirtiest*. With gasoline and diesel engines, lowering the CO2 further always raises NOx emissions....emissions that are *not* an issue the overwhelming majority of the time with even "dirty" fuel cells.

So we need to look into EVERY fuel cell technology, not just PEMs. We need to have a *bridge* technology to *get us* there to the hydrogen infrastructure. We need something to use *right now*, even if it's one of the newer "hybrid battery" designs that combines a metal-air battery design (like zinc-air or iron-air Westinghouse batteries) with a fuel cell to increase specific power.

We *have* fuel cell technologies we could apply tomorrow, that would improve things dramatically....but they aren't the *perfect* solution PEMs are, and the Big Oil-led companies refuse to look into those to see if we can improve things *now*. Why? Because they stand to make more cash by sitting their hands, "waiting for perfection" and doing *nothing* as usual....

So we have to look into ALL fuel cell technologies, perfect and otherwise....so we can get things going *now*.

And now, something amusing. ^_^ That "out there" option.

--Just how many tons of motor vehicle do we *have* out there? And just how many millions of miles of paved road do we have, that are in time going to need replacing?

I ask, because the thought did occur to me....what if, when we replaced roads and highways, we included a *layer* of piezoelectric and thermo-couple mesh materials? And then connected that layer to a power grid, an inductive third rail of sorts, up top? The piezoelectric layer would generate electricity courtesy of pressure differentials every time a vehicle pressed down on it from above in passing, then released it--and yes, this could work, especially on concrete areas that come *segmented* and separated anyway. And the thermo-couple mesh generates electricity too, as the road heats up, either from vehicles passing overhead or from *sunlight* heating the road. ^_^ How much current could we get going from that?

We do have a lot of vehicles on the road, a lot of road, and a lot of roadway materials, like asphalt, that a) get HOT in the summer, and b) transfer pressure in a squishy manner fairly well.

Would it be enough to run the *lights*? Would it be enough to run a zero-emissions vehicle lane, with the cars that are supposed to be there hugging that inductive "third rail" like slot cars? *lol* I know, it sounds like a perpetual motion scheme, but.....I could see this working at least on the Interstates. ^_^ And hell, gravity and sunlight both are pollution free at our end.

But yeah, I get that having an unbroken "third rail" of any kind on a roadway, even one resting below the surface of the road and out of harm's way to pedestrians, is going to be a legal or political issue.

Still....a freebie's a freebie, right? ^_^

Hope this helps....thanks for your time!

Answer 2

The only source of energy, other than fossil fuels, which has the potential to supply the energy needs of america and the world in the future is nuclear. Electric cars can be designed to achieve roughly 100 miles on the same energy as in a gallon of gas and only needs a better battery to store the energy when recharged from an electric plug in. Electric cars and nuclear power plants are the right answer. A "shotgun" approach is usually suggested by those who have no idea what the right answer is.

Answer 3

You just need a good balance of solar and wind. There's enough wind to power everything on the planet 7 times over, including cars. I'm sure solar in the same, the sun is always putting out energy, it's going to waste if we don't use it, there's lots of desert in the world, take Australia for instance, covered in them, with all the sun you could ever want, they could power their entire country on solar, plus on hot days, the constant is usually that it's sunny, so that means plenty of sun to power the solar cells.

The best options right now are nuclear, then wind and solar. Nuclear though isn't a good longterm solution, and my cause terrorist problems, but it's a good measure in between until you have enough wind or solar.

Or we can just reduce the use as well, if appliances and electronics weren't allowed to be wasteful at all, and had a maximum possible energy drain allowed in order to be sold, you'd be cutting emissions like crazy across the board.

Basically stop the waste, instead of trying to just find other sources to feed our energy hunger.

Answer 4

In my state missouri we are turning to coal,I believe as do almost all of the people that i have talked to that coal is more economical and enviromently safe.Also alot of homes are becoming solar and some homes are being buried on 3 sides as a way to control electricity cost,i think that coal and solar are the wave of the future they have now proven that solar set-ups can be cost effective.In the state of missouri the state will give you tax breaks for solar powered homes.My thoughts are that we need to get away from oil and missouri is one state that is looking for more eco friendly ways to do so,i believe that fuel cells and solar will be the next step in conjunction with coal powered plants.

Answer 5

Any alternative fuel sources will be kept expensive for the average bread winner to utilize so here's what must be done!

Join forces with like minded individuals and form a small community. Each pitch in for a solar system to run your complex.

Raise crops to sell and trade with.

And during a visit I took to a Mennonite farm, I had seen where they had half filled buckets of mulch under the toilet seats in their outhouses. Instead of using a large quantity of water waste per toilet flush, they would exchange the buckets with fresh mulched filled ones, and add them to a compost pile. The more you think about this technique, the better it makes sense. Our fecal matter breaks down quickly in mulch beds and converts to very fertile humus that plants thrive on, instead of using chemical fertilizers.

The use of one vehicle to transport to and from the complex is much better than 15 households using 15 or more vehicles per day.

Down below is a link to such a community that has been around and thriving this way since the 1970's, its system of things has been worked through all the beginning little kinks and they willing share all the information for others to follow without having to find out any negative drawbacks on their own.

Thinking deeply on this matter, we have little to no other plan or system that could out do conservative means any better than this. It's time to stop thinking and discussing and start doing. No, we're not dumb and blind followers of an outgrown government, we're Americans, bred from true grit stock that overcame many obstacles of adversities. And if you think that these forms of communities won't be "the thing", you best realize here and now, that you'll be the last of the many others who are going to move and grow within this alternative lifestyle.

Answer 6

I have delved on this subject for quite some time.

I can give you some ideas which should materialize once our elected officials do the necessary to get this nation off of fossil fuels.

We are a nation of many diverse individuals...all wanting to be free and do what they feel like doing. Unless this attitude changes, you can expect market forces to dictate future energy sources.

I predict as gasoline gets higher and higher, some viable alternatives will kick in and become realistically competitive with fossil fuel products.

There may be an array of many forms of energy for the various needs people have, so it is highly conceivable that all existing gasoline stations will have many types of fuel available, and priced according to supply and demand.

Machines and motor vehicles will have all kinds of additions and modifications which will make them adaptable to many forms of energy.

This most likely will happen since we live in a free market society and we don't want to make (needed) drastic changes.

In sum, the market will dictate the alternative energy sources.

Without drastic measures being taken, I see where earth can steadily decline environmentally as the population of many nations explodes and the people try to maintain old habits.

Answer 7

I think cold fusion . I did invest a few buck in a company that clammed they figured out how to do it . Not sure how true it is but they do send me up dates every month . They call them nano detonators . I guess there going to take the place of a spark plug but needs no fuel to run on . Any way i spend more on the lotto then i invested with them so i figure what the hell why not. Alternative Energy Company

Answer 8

Coal can still be used up, and it is still releasing hydrocarbons that are buried underground and into the atmosphere. Fuel cells are more practical to solar power due to darkness. If we could use water in fuel cells, that would be the way to go. It is expensive and inefficient right now though.
For now, stick with hybrids or compact cars.

Answer 9

You'll have to tell me one day why electric cars don't work in winter - all my other electric (mains and battery) appliances work - My neighbour's electric chair he uses to get to town and back appears to work fine. Other battery operated vehicles have also been spotted round town. I ride an electric powered train to work on hot and cold days - the times of failure tend to be mid summer when electric storms take out substations / signals - or solar heat warps the track or flash floods sweep away embankments.

Back to the asked question - solar, wind, tidal wave.

NOT Uranium (limited supply)
NOT Bio-fuel - rapes the land
NOT Coal - undoes what the carboniferous age did
NOT Shale or Oil - limited supply and we need it for other things - Plastics, lubricants, medicines, tar. Burning it is about as sensible as burning diamonds for energy or using Gold instead of Lead to flash your roof.


Must be something to do with American winters or American electricity.

Answer 10

Hydrogen only works if you have a good way to split water. This might be wind turbines.
We should develope hydrogen nuclear plants to replace coal, uranium, gas.
Solar panels can serve in some places.
We might use natural gas in cars.
Electric cars work in warm weather. In cold areas electric cars seem useless in winter.

Answer 11

OCEAN TURBINES !!! THey would produce NO polution, all the FREE POWER we will EVER need, they will be out of sight -- so no more eyesores, they would even create havens for sealife !!! But there's no $$$$$ in it for the "POWERS THAT BE" -- so we won't see it in our lifetimes, unless America becomes cut off from all other energy supplies, then something will be done. I imagine that in 100 to 200 years that is where we'll get our power. Wave action is NEVER-ENDING and could easily supply FREE or Extremely cheap power to the whole planet !!! Barbie, FLA