As an engineer, I would say liquified or gasified coal is our best bet. We have a huge supply of it here in the U.S. and large advances in technology have lead to coal being as clean burning as natural gas.
Some other popular choices....
Wind technology - we don't have the land area for it to completely replace oil, but I'd like to see it cover about 10% of U.S. energy demands.
Nuclear - Our best option next to coal, large cost if mistakes happen but they chances are pretty remote. I'd like to see about 30% of energy go to this
Hydro- we're pretty much maxed out on this one
Solar - we need MUCH larger advances in this field before we can even consider it
Ethonol - Flat out terrible fuel. It costs more energy to produce it than you get out of it. It's crazy to even consider it.
2007-09-27 13:05:46 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
drill for more oil in alaska, the gulf of mexico, off our shores etc.
continue working on alternative fuels
coal gasification is a good one
nuclear is a good idea as well
that's about all we need
2007-09-27 13:15:23 · answer #1 · answered by White 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Actually, shale is better than coal. There has been some progress on cooking it underground and then pumping it out. Otherwise, we'd be looking a excavating the equivalent of a Panama Canal each month to extract it.
That comment about methane isn't all that far off the mark. If we could come up with an efficient catalyst for extracting methane from the atmosphere, we would have an abundant source of cheap energy while removing a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
2007-09-27 13:19:48 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Corn Stalk ethanol - very efficient to produce and better quality. I think there's a road block to the actuall making it, but then again its newer tech.
Solar - New designs (particulalry those using biotech and nanotech) could provide maybe the best source yet. Go look at Hydrogen.
Hydrogen - Using some sort of nano structures, it can convert Hydrogen very efficiently just using solar power.
Fusion - If only we could get it to work.
Fission - Iffy. Of course there are newer, radical designs, but old school fission is a touchy subject.
Tidal and Hydrothermal - Can't see why not. Except for the fact sea water is corrosive which means high maintance.
Wind - Okay, but it doesn't have the promise of developemnt the others have.
Unfortunately, all of the really good ones are just research. But nanotech and biotech will be major players.
2007-09-27 13:25:16 · answer #3 · answered by Mitchell 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Your solutions will not work, except in a very temporary way, as a stopgap. For myself, I use mass transit, and keep my power bills very low. I'm going to add some solar power soon.
But the population is too high, and it continues to increase exponentially. If you are an engineer, you understand what that means, and how pathetically inadequate all these ideas about green power really are.
The bottom line is that at SOME point, the global population WILL crest and begin to decline, and it will probably mean some extremely unpleasant times. Why not bite the bullet and make a serious attempt to turn it around now?
But I believe humanity is unable to think that way. Too bad.
2007-09-27 13:42:15 · answer #4 · answered by KALEL 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nuclear is a great option and is actually very safe so that would be my choice though I don't know much about liquified and gasified coal. Solar is going to get better too in the next decade so that is an option, but for now only on smaller scale.
2007-09-27 13:10:39 · answer #5 · answered by UriK 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Having lived on a sailboat for 14 years while cruising the Caribbean, I have found you can live quite nicely with a bank of 12 volt batteries ..... a wind generater.... and a couple of solar cells..... now living on land in Honduras, where the local power supply is sporadic and at the whim of hurricanes and tropical storms I have a 12 volt system in my beach house with an inverter to power TV Microwave fans etc..... Its just a back up system . for when the power goes out but it works..... best not to be dependent on the power company....... Oh yes I still catch rain water, its free , fresh and clean...... I still have to buy gas for the car.
2007-09-27 13:38:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
obviously the best choices would be a wind/solar/hydro/thermal combination. these are renewable and have no emmissions. to use coal and nuclear while the others are developed would be fine with me. sooner the better imho
2007-09-27 13:19:16 · answer #7 · answered by ben j 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
china is already building cars from 9 different auto corporations to address this.they no longer need opec either,they are building hybrid cars by law,mostly htdrogen fuel
2007-09-27 15:56:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would agree, but I would use more nuclear, then a lot of the coal.
Great list...have a star.
2007-09-27 13:08:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Converting the methane in farts to useable energy...just have'nt figured out yet how we will get are butts in position to fart in our gas tanks.
2007-09-27 13:08:31 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋