| 2/19/2008 3:25:14 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
terentius
Apex, NC
age: 53
| | 1. biofuels | | 2. hydrogen | | 3. electricity | | 4. horses and bicyles | | 5. Don't need any: plenty of oil left |
Gas seems to be getting scarcer and more expensive. The demand for it is rising much faster than the supply, and sooner or later the affordable supply will run out. (We can define "affordable supply" by the amount of oil that can be extracted while still having a net gain in energy, so you don't use more energy extracting a barrel of oil than that barrel of oil contains.) Some estimate that peak oil production may already have happened, and others think it will happen within the next decade. And, of course, most of the existing oil supplies are in countries with unfriendly or unstable governments.
What would your choice be?
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| 2/19/2008 3:53:27 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
swiftfalcon
The Colony, TX
age: 50
| Although hydrogen is still a ways off it does seem to be the way to go. In the interim electrical and hybrid for vehicles. We definitely need to get some new nuclear plants built. Getting more creative with saving everything we can is here now. Mostly out of direct and significant cost savings by doing so. I agree with a UN statement recently that stated using food sources for fuel “biofuel” is wrong in so many ways.
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| 2/19/2008 4:22:50 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
krupa1
Abilene, TX
age: 40
| Self- contained magnetic/electro magnetic power systems.
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| 2/19/2008 4:37:28 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
oper8tor1
Dalzell, SC
age: 39
| We need to find alternative fuels but, how about we allow drilling in ANWR, off the coast of Florida and California in the mean time. These alternatives are years away from being workable or affordable. How about we tap the oil we have to lessen our need for FOREIGN oil. Taking that one step would drop the price of oil drastically as well as stopping countries like Venezeula from holding oil over our head.
You want energy independence, tell the enviro-whackos to shut the hell up and let's start drilling here.
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| 2/19/2008 4:49:06 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
fifi
London
United Kingdom
age: 51
| the wings of a dove
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| 2/19/2008 4:57:18 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
pamela0324
Pasadena, MD
age: 54
| This isn't an area I know much about, but what I read suggests hydrogen-power may be the technology of the future. I certainly believe oil is a limited commodity and one we need to turn away from and find alternative energy sources.
Just my limited-knowledge opinion
Pam
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| 2/19/2008 5:13:31 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
lostinwyoming
Evanston, WY
age: 50
| hot air,there seems to be an abundence of it around here.
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| 2/19/2008 5:20:34 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
oper8tor1
Dalzell, SC
age: 39
| Lost...
Yes there does...including mine...
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| 2/19/2008 5:31:11 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
jays82
Delphos, OH
age: 44
| I believe hydrogen is best with the technology now, however the problem is not enough oil. The problem is oh you can't drill there and you can't drill there, plus there is enough oil now with out. The studies show not enough refineriers is the problem and there just to damn expensive to build in the U.S.
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| 2/20/2008 8:44:17 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
terentius
Apex, NC
age: 53
| Well, here's my vote: electricity. (I am thinking about a new power source for cars.) Reasons:
1. I think oil is getting scarce and will just keep getting more expensive. I don't think it's about refining capacity, because crude oil prices keep rising, showing the scarcity is on the production side, not the refining side.
2. Hydrogen, of course, is not an energy source, it's just a means of making energy portable. It's expensive to produce and transport, and it's pretty hard to store enough hydrogen in a car to go very far. The technology is expensive, complicated, and years off.
3. Biofuels don't seem to be a good idea, because they take almost as much energy to make as you get back, and besides, if you turn it into fuel, the price of food goes up.
4. Horses and bicycles are good, but we're still going to want to drive.
5. Electric cars work today. There's the chevy volt, the tesla roadster, and some people have add-on gadgets for their Priuses so they can plug them in. They just have to have a few more improvements in battery technology and electric cars will be affordable and complete replacements for gas powered cars. Of course, electricity is not an energy source any more than hydrogen is. So we'd have to have a lot more electrical production. Also, neither electricity nor hydrogen will ever power airplanes.
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| 2/20/2008 8:53:35 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
terentius
Apex, NC
age: 53
| Tesla roadster: very cool. All electric. 220 miles on a charge. 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds.
Price? $89000. Oh well.
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| 2/20/2008 9:45:12 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
edawg2
Knoxville, TN
age: 59
| Not sure yet. But it'll probably be some form of renewable energy, hopefully nonpolluting, but it's a long way off. Maybe 50-100 yrs. In the meantime, every drop and dollar that can be scraped out of our current oil supply will be taken till it runs out. People usually don't make the hard decisions until they have no other choice.
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| 2/21/2008 6:39:12 AM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
stargazzer
Creighton, NE
age: 59
| #5 just because you did not have all the above and more.
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| 2/21/2008 5:43:51 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
terentius
Apex, NC
age: 53
| Alex_192, you raise some good points about biofuels. As implemented in this country, they are not a good idea. Most US biofuel is ethanol from corn, and that only pays because of enormous government subsidies for both corn production for making ethanol from corn. But in Brazil, they make ethanol out of sugar, and that can be done more efficiently. In this country, it is possible to produce biodiesel from soybeans, which might be reasonably cost effective. Also, processes are emerging to produce fuels from cellulose and even algae. So I should not dismiss biofuels as an option.
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| 2/21/2008 6:14:13 PM | What is the best replacement for oil? | |
mcoop4861
Atlanta, GA
age: 70
| I agree with krupa..magnetic supertrains much like what they have in Europe and Japan.
Many of the unemployed could be put to work constructing the infrastructure..clothe them, feed them and house them in traincars and each day they work on the groundwork installing the substraight, track, etc...much like the CCC during the depression. Many, many years in the future, but at least for long distance travel, could be a start. Solar power, wind. Different systems for different geographical areas. Every little bit helps..
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