Suggest ideas to save the planet:?

Question

Got any ideas of replacements for fossil fuels? Suggest them here. Fossil fuels are fuels that are non replacable and will run out eventually such as wood, coal and oil. If you have any ideas, ssuggest them.

Thanks for all your comments. They are very much appreciated, although for the task I have to do, I need some examples for replacements. The project I am doing needs me to get them. please find some. cheers

Answer 1

Ban make up and perfume. These are needless products that waste energy through transportation.

Answer 2

The most sensible replacements for fossil fuels are wind, wave and tide generators. These sources of energy will be expensive but fossil fuels are getting more expensive and are too valuable to waste in the way we have been doing. The burning of fossil fuels is also causing hugely damaging global warming.

Wood is not a fossil fuel, it is a bio-fuel and can be grown and used in a sustainable way but it might be better to use the land for food and wildlife. The same goes for other bio-fuels whether burnt directly or converted into ethanol.

As indicated above it is very important that we should reduce the use of fossil fuels. But wind, wave and tide generators are likely to be only a partial answer. Just as importantly we should reduce our energy use for example by using cars less or not at all and by buying less stuff. A simpler lifestyle is the answer and can be happier than trying to keep up with the neighbours.

Some people regard nuclear energy as the answer but they are overlooking the fact that uranium is also a fossil fuel and likely to become more expensive. And the burning of uranium in nuclear reactors produces waste products that are even more problematic than the CO2 produced by burning carbon based fossil fuels.

Answer 3

The planet is not in need of saving. Fossil fuels will run out eventually, put not for a very long time. Wood is not a fossil fuel and is renewable. Suggest has only one S.

Answer 4

Our local bus service now runs a "bio bus" which runs on bio fuel in the form of recycled cooking oil. Check it out at http://www.thebiobus.com

I don't really have much ideas for replacemet fuels, but I had an idea that the shops and supermarkets could implement - we are constantly being asked to recycle carrier bags, and some places even charge for their bags so that people will bring their own. I think a good idea would be instead of charging for their plastic carriers/bags for life, give the customers some form of discount if they use their own bags. For example 5% off their shopping. For many supermarket giants, this would also decrease their costs of supplying carrier bags, and people are more likely to participate if they think they are gaining something out of it.

*edit - I am not trying to say that recylcing bags is going to save the world, but you've got to start somewhere, and every little helps. If everyone in the world was to recycle more products, I'm sure that there would be a difference. These things have got to appeal to people though to get them on board.

Answer 5

You guys are sad. You think recycling a grocery bag is going to save the world.

The issue is that we've barely tapped the oil that is in the earth thanks to environmentalist whakos that won't let us drill off our own shores or Alaska and thus have become dependent on an artificially reduced supply of oil.

Eventually, there will be technology that can compete with oil, but forcing it on us now will only have unexpected consequences economically. Look at the brilliant folks who thought of using our food supply (corn) as fuel so now the price of anything that uses corn, from meat, popcorn, and thousands of other foods has gone through the roof. Check out the price of Turkey now (turkeys eat corn...).

There is enough McDonalds grease to run about .0000001% of our energy needs so beyond Willy Nelson, there isn't enough to go around.

Allow us to get the oil we already have which buys us 20 years of technology development to perfect batteries. Then build nuclear plants which are the cleanest safest way to generate energy and you can charge your batteries through the electricity generated.

Everything else is a 100 year pipedream at this point. SHow me an economicly sound study that says otherwise.

Answer 6

Hydrogen. It's clean, abundant and infinitely remewable. It's difficult to store safely but that could be easily overcome if anyone had the mind and the finance to do it.
Just a tiny fraction of the huge amounts the West spends on keeping armies in places like Iraq would be enough to solve this problem. Then we wouldn't need any oil.

Answer 7

The planet will be fine. Whatever humankind does will have no impact on the planet's survival. Now if mankind wants to continue on, they need to figure out how to adapt to a warmer planet for a while, and probably stop trashing the place.

Look to China, India, and Africa for the real problems. The developed nations will figure out how to clean things up for themselves, but the developing and emerging countries will make the situation much worse. (Another reason the Kyoto Treaty was a huge pile of steaming manure)

Answer 8

What we need to do is change our lifestyle, not just make it less harmful. I once read this metaphor somewhere: if you want to drive to Canada, but your car is heading for Mexico, then it will do you no good to slow down. You have to turn around. Over the generations, we need to change the way we look at our resources so that we don't have to worry about these problems. We've bleeped the world up so badly that we can't just slow down, tinker here and there, and be fine and dandy! (by the way, that is what NAO is going up for.)

Answer 9

There are 6 TIMES the number of people in the world now compared with 1800, the world can only sustain about 1.5 billion long term and the population is 6.7 billion.

Answer 10

U R right. What we need is solid solutions to our over-exploitation of natural resources. Have a look at the following which is a solution:
Knowingly or unknowingly we are all partners in misusing of costly electricity for our lighting purpose during day time when the solar light is available just outside our windows. Why can't bring home the sunshine?
Yes. This has been successfully adopted by a number of people in Bangalore, India. This innovative but simple method of bringing home the sunshine was suggested to the World Bank as a Grassroots Initiative for Preservation of Natural Resourcs during IDM-2007 competition - Project U-SEE (Unlimited Savings of Electrical Energy). U-SEE does not involve any nano technology nor does it requires billions of dollars for implementation. Moreover, U-SEE you get free lighting for life. No charges.
The World Bank honored this initiative and has created a permanent blog on the World Bank URL at http://dmblog.worldbank.org/mirrors-can-bring-light-rural-homes.
How is it implemented? U need a house hold mirror of 12"X18" and a pillow. Identify where u can get maximum sunshine just outside the windows with clear glass or on the balcony, keep the pillow on a stool or chair and place the mirror on the pillow, go on nudging the mirror till the solar light is deflected from the mirror, through the window and on to the white ceiling inside your home. U will be surprised to find the light spreading from the ceiling - it can be 40 to 60 watts (see the picture above - notice tube light and table lamp in the corner are not burning but there is enough light). If u can keep a bigger mirror, u will get more bright light. U can control the light just by covering a portion of the mirror.
Earth moves on its latitude. When u find that the deflected solar light is moving elsewhere, just go to the mirror, nudge a little and u can get back your light as before. THIS IS THE BASIC IDEA and once u have done it, u be the Innovator of your light requirements for your home and U-SEE PROVIDES YOU FREE LIGHTING FOR LIFE. Many homes/huts in rural areas in developing countries do not have proper lighting and people are living in dark, damp and dingy environs but urbanites living in concrete jungles in cities with tinted glasses are misusing electricity for their lighting purpose even during day time.
U-SEE the Benefits: ONE incandescent bulb/tubelight burning for 6 hours during day time consumes 7 units of electricity in a month. If half the world can adopt U-SEE and switch off one bulb for 6 hours during day time, how much of electricity can be saved? Your guess is as good as mine + saves cost of fossil fuels, coal, water+saves cost incurred for machineries and equipments+saves overhead charges+saves transmission loss charges+saves the world from global warming (burning bulbs/CO2 etc) with n'th value+ U GET FREE LIGHTING FOR LIFE with n'th value. The savings that accrue can off set the load on our productive requirements like A/c, refrigerators, mixies, fans etc.
Solar light will be available at least for about 200 days in a year and it is infinite and why should we let it go waste? We are not harnessing this infinite energy. U-SEE is ssoo simple.
First adopt this method, innovate solutions if u face small problems. U be the winner. U-SEE It is a win win situation for all of us. Need clarifications, mail: [e-mail] U-SEE - The author's ambition is to spread this friendly initiative to one and all. No charges!!
Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, Bangalore, India

Answer 11

We cannot replace what we destroyed,the earth is in a process of natural evolution,if our actions may have hastened the process, it will make no difference to the end result,which would develop naturally anyway.