Alternative ennery to fossil fuels? Apart from wind, solar, nuclear and geothermal do you know of any possible

Question

Alternative ennery to fossil fuels? Apart from wind, solar, nuclear and geothermal do you know of any possible thechology/ energy source that could replace fossil fuels once they become seriously depleted

Answer 1

Hydro, tidal and wave for a start.
But why wait til fossil is depleted?

We should use the whole available portfolio of energy sources to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels now.

Edit - I forgot waste and biomass.
We have the technology to turn much of our waste into useful energy and we can grow many crops just for fuelling power stations. A few of the other suggestions go against the laws of physics and chemistry. To get power out you need to harness a power source which exists, not expend a huge amount of energy in the first place to create a fuel.

Answer 2

There are five possibilities I see.

1. Nuclear Fission
2. Nuclear Fusion
3. Space Solar Power System
4. Clean Coal
5. Politically Correct Power with Storage (i.e. what would be needed to actually use wind and ground based solar)

Right now only Fission is actually ready for large scale deployment (in fact we've had it ready for decades, we just need to get around to actually using it) while the others are future technology.

I have high hopes that Fusion and Space Power Systems will become reality eventually but I doubt Clean Coal or Wind and ground Based solar combined with energy storage technologies are going to be of much use (they'll probably end up too expensive compared to Fission which will become the benchmark, replacing dirty coal which will be taxed out of existence).

Clean Coal also has the disadvantage of being fossil fuel based (although we do have quite a lot of coal and if it works it would live up to the promise of not causing global warming).

The various other power sources have too many problems to be significant players. Most of the good hydro sites have been used and the others are off limits to damming because of environmental concerns, geothermal only works in some places (though both of those can be good where they work). Wind and ground based solar aren't reliable enough so you either need large energy storage or you back them up with fossil fuels, anyone who ignores the need for backup with wind and ground based solar should themselves be ignored.

Wave and Tidal power is too low in power density to be of much use.

Of course that's just for electricity, transportation fuels are going to be a harder problem to solve and will probably be something manufactured with heat from a nuclear reactor, hydrogen or a synthetic hydrocarbon (methanol, butanol or even CO2 and Water to Petrol), battery technology doesn't seem up to taking over fully.

Answer 3

Hydroelectric. I'm assuming you just forgot this one. Also there is a new technology of using ocean waves. You have big buoy's floating in the ocean, and as the waves come they squish hydraulic fluid through small turbines making electricity. http://www.med.govt.nz/upload/39150/fig-02.jpg

Also if you think about it all energy come from the sun with exception of Geothermal and Nuclear. Sun energy stored in Plants, Plants = carbons, Carbons = Fossil fuels. Sun heats the air, causing wind and waves. Also its evaporating water sending water up to the sky and depositing it on mountains and forming streams, rivers, etc...

So as long as plants have the only thing that isn't destroyed by the sun's rays, chlorophyll, and we have the sun we should always have the means to produce power.

Answer 4

Hydrogen fusion . All mater has electrical energy a positive and negative Each and every atom vibrates that causes the electrical charge much like static . You bombard two hydrogen atoms with the right frequency of sound wave that causes it to lose its vibration and the two atoms move closer together then you hit it with a high voltage like a spark just a small spark like a spark plug would have and the two atom are recharged causing them to repel from each other . you get allot more energy from repulsion then it takes to turn them off . From the repulsion you get a strong poof of helium that pushes a piston down much like an explosion of gas in a motor . Kind of like turning a light switch on and off simple as that. Do you know how many hydrogen atoms you can fit in a container the size of your finger ? Probably enough to take you around the world a couple dozen times

They have plans on manufacturing them beginning of next year .They will be on the market by mid summer so don't get rid of that big gas hog . Everyone is going want them back lol

Answer 5

Fresnel lenses to boil water and make steam to power turbines....a fresnel lens in direct sunlight can produce temps of 3000 degrees. Solar farms with these on a site of a couple hundred square miles could power the entire US. Just need a site with very little cloud cover every day and it would be a huge investment in one site that is not moveable.

Answer 6

In Italy they are producing Gas and Liquid Fuel from decomposing bodies, so far what is produced from 10 bodies can heat 20 houses and run 35 cars for a year.

Answer 7

Pump storage, similar but not identical to hydro, like the Dinorwig power station in Wales

http://www.fhc.co.uk/dinorwig.htm

Solar furnace

http://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/nn/nn_rt/nn_rt_cs/article_1114_en.htm

Answer 8

Hydrogen fuel cells? the only by product is H2O.

Answer 9

they are currently testing wave energy (as in the ocean's waves) on the Oregon coast.

Answer 10

Someone's manage to make salt water "burn" using specific radio frequencies to split water molecules into H2 and O2. Some argue that it takes more energy to do this than it produces, but it's promising isn't it?