Some people have an intuitive grasp of the obvious.
Oil will be king for along long time. Oil is not only fuel, but raw material for many other products from fertilizer to plastics etc. It is what “renewables” are made from both ion terms of power to manufacture as well as base materials.
Oil has more power to mass than most anything other than nuclear, is cheaper to harvest, we don’t eat it nor do we have to do much more than cook it to make fuels and other byproducts (wax to asphalt etc). Unlike etoh, h2 etc, it gives us more power than it costs/consumes to produce.
Oil will be the fuel of the 24th century and beyond!
I suspect it won’t happen for a while. Oil prices will simply adjust - i.e. fall until they reach some kind of equilibrium with CNG. Isn’t CNG’s problem energy density? Shouldn’t an all-CNG vehicle will require at least 50% more space for fuel storage? Aren’t CNG fuel tanks also heavier than the average gas tank because the walls have to be thick enough to handle the stresses of highly pressurized gas?
So they’re saying that SOME DAY we won’t use as much oil as now. That was useful.
The best option for automobiles is Telsa's new cars that may be coming out. With batteries that may last more than 300 miles and shorter charging times, their may be more of these. However, I don't see the public going over en-mass till 400 miles and 30 minutes or less charging times.
Even so, most electricity will be generated by fossil fuels for a while. Nuclear is still unpalatable and hydro only does a fraction. Wind power has been a joke.
No, until something better is out there than what is available I see no turnaround for the foreseeable future. But that could change if the situation becomes dire enough.
I will make a prediction. It won’t happen untill the alternative is cheaper!
” That may be 30 or 40 years from now.”
Well, that’s a specific prediction! I love these folks taking wild swings into the future and the “reporter” proclaiming they have an amazing story.
I am a complete agnostic on the transportation fuel of the future. Fuel cells and electrics are possibilities, but both require a primary energy source working in the background. Nuclear remains the best option for that. Electrics also face the limitations of current battery technology; whether and when that will be solved is an open question. Biofuels are currently a bridging option, but if costs can be reduced for third generation feedstocks, probably algae or microbes, change could be very rapid. The production potential is staggering. Process costs are the issue, and there is a good chance that these can be significantly reduced. This would be a major game changer.
Wind is held back by nature. When it blows too hard, you have to shut down the devices or they will self destruct, if it doesn't blow enough, they produce no out put.
Without tax dollars {mine and yours}, there would not be any wind mills in the USA and certainly not the 14,000 abandoned ones that have seen their tax subsidies expire.
Yet another lefty scam based on fraud.
As pointed out by ‘Manly Warrior’, oil/gas/diesel has the highest weight-to-energy ratio of any envisioned power source. In addition to this, is the fact that our technology to reduce tailpipe emissions constantly improves. An emphatic example is the fact that I drive a diesel (TDI) car that does not make black clouds when the pedal is pressed.
The best base power, least polluting chain leading to transportation nirvana would be nuclear power station creating H2 feedstock leading to ‘gas stations’ allowing individuals to fuel their vehicles in the same time frame as current petrol vehicles. Fuel cell technology is minimally polluting while electric drive trains seem only to be improving daily.
Cars should have solar panels and windmills.....that’s the wave of the future......do I really need a sarc tag!!!
Yep, eventually, oil will run out. Maybe in the next 300 years or so. In my opinion, by then, we’ll be using HYDROGEN as our fuel. Just think, no pollution, and every one will be able to make it in their kitchen. It’s really very easy to produce, but the big problem is, at the present time, there is no way to store it safely. Once the problem of storing HYDROGEN safely can be figured out, then no one will ever think of using anything else. Once that happens, the government will be in a terrible “TIZZY”. HOW TO TAX IT?
” says the commercial automobile market is the last bastion of crude oil,”
Well, except for textiles, medicines, packaging, plastics and just about every other thing every human being touches every day.
Because we will all be walking instead?!?
Oil starts with saltwater algae, which is highly renewable.. Growing genetically engineered super algae on the open ocean seems like an obvious contender for a replacement, with the added benefit it forms a CO2 closed loop. Likely the military will fund the research that cracks this nut. Any legacy oil still left in the ground might become worthless overnight, so now is the time to drill baby drill!
I think we should try and using large domesticated draft animals to pull us around in carts. Might work.