Future Fuels

StevieJ

A slightly more positive picture compared to the dark,dark peak oil world of AD and Tramp, Van Der Veer the retiring boss of Shell outlines a scenario of the future.
I must say I tend to lean towards this view, on the basis that solutions tend to be found only when needed (or some cynics may say taken off the mothball shelf)


We stand at the early dawn of a new energy future. It will be powered by alternative energy and cleaner fossil fuels. If governments adopt the right rules and incentives, by the middle of this century renewable sources will provide nearly 30 per cent of the world’s energy. Society will be on the road toward sustainable mobility. The world’s highways will rumble and whir with vehicles powered by all manner of energy: petrol, diesel (yes, still there), electricity, biofuels, natural gas and hydrogen.

http://www.edubourse.com/finance/actualites.php?actu=54520

kennyboy66_2

I thing the challnge will be to get power from the places where it is easily generated eg Wind and Solar to where it is used.

The article yesterday forecasting houshold bills of £5k per year by 2020 was simply ludicrous.

At this price wind turbines and concentrated solar power would be cheaper than fossil fuels.

purch

Future Fuels

Hot Air ???

There is plenty of it on this board !!! :eek:

ad9898_3

kennyboy66 wrote: »

I thing the challnge will be to get power from the places where it is easily generated eg Wind and Solar to where it is used.

The article yesterday forecasting houshold bills of £5k per year by 2020 was simply ludicrous.

At this price wind turbines and concentrated solar power would be cheaper than fossil fuels.

The problem at this time, isn't that wind and solar don't work, they clearly do, the problem is getting grid level energy from these kind of renewables, with current technology it simply isn't possible. But despite my pessimistic outlook, I do live in hope that fusion will rescue us, I have my fingers crossed. This is the only kind of energy that could comfortably ease us through the ending of the oil age with no massive population reduction.

mbga9pgf

Genetically engineered seabased algae manufactured in the world's deserts... not as efficient as solar panels, but much MUCH cheaper to produce, as well as being able to grow in salty water makes it the number one choice... they just need to perfect it. Would mean very little modification of current vehicles as the stuff can be turned into an oil based substance very easily.

High oil prices, competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources and the world food crisis have ignited interest in algaculture (farming algae) for making vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels. Among algal fuels' attractive characteristics: they do not affect fresh water resources,[3] can be produced using ocean and wastewater, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.[4][5][6] Algae cost more per pound yet can yield over 30 times more energy per acre than other, second-generation biofuel crops.I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I One biofuels company has claimed that algae can produce more oil in an area the size of a two car garage than a football field of soybeans, because almost the entire algal organism can use sunlight to produce lipids, or oil.[7] The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 square kilometers), which is a few thousand square miles larger than Maryland.[8] This is less than 1/7th the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.[9][10]

Algae can produce 15-300 times more oil per acre than conventional crops, such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, or jatropha, and they have a harvesting cycle of 1-10 days, which permits several harvests in a very short time frame, increasing the total yield (Chisti 2007). Algae can also be grown on land that is not suitable for other established crops, for instance, arid land, land with excessively saline soil, and drought-stricken land. This minimizes the issue of taking away pieces of land from the cultivation of food crops (Schenk et al. 2008).
They can grow 20 to 30 times faster than food crops.[25]
Not only does algae produce biofuel, it also helps with reducing CO2 emissions. Algae, like other fuels, releases carbon dioxide when it is burned. Fortunately, Algae takes in CO2 and replaces it with Oxygen during the process of photosynthesis. Ultimately, its net emissions are zero because the CO2 released in burning is the same amount that was absorbed initially.
The hard part about algae production is growing the algae in a controlled way and harvesting it efficiently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel

I am hoping for fusion too....

Hopefully research at both CERN and a Laser based fusion reactor in the USA will guide the way...

StevieJ

purch wrote: »

Hot Air ???

There is plenty of it on this board !!! :eek:

Useful for floating balloons

Generali

Good post StevieJ, thanks.

My feeling is that lifestyles will have to change more than energy sources. Both are important though.

Davesnave

Hmmm...I'm still going to look at a wood I'm thinking of buying this week.

On the alternative transport front, I saw one of my hippy-ish former neighbours driving a pink milk float at the weekend.

97trophy

StevieJ wrote: »

by the middle of this century renewable sources will provide nearly 30 per cent of the world’s energy.

We already know how to do this, its called nuclear energy!

ad9898_3

97trophy wrote: »

We already know how to do this, its called nuclear energy!

Nuclear energy is not renewable, Uranium235 is required. You can make plutonium in breeder reactors, but seeing as this is the key ingredient in bombs, it is frowned upon, and in the end it only extends the life, it's still not renewable.

1echidna

My grandfather used to talk about being fined on the streets of Melbourne for speeding on his horse. Times have changed in the hundred years from then and I guess they will again in the next hundred. Even the retiring boss of Shell has no crystal ball but I guess his thoughts are more educated than most.