All the talk about electric cars: aren't we ignoring coal oil? Abundant, cheap, and not hard to produce.?

Question

Use of coal oil as alternative fuel: refit engines to burn

Abundant, cheap, easy to produce.

Plenty of coal far into the future.

Source is in this country, not in Middle East: money would stay here.

Answer 1

Wel, you could convert your coal to methane and use it as CNG just as readily... in fact there is a lot of coal being converted to methane without having anyone down below to mine it. Why have people mining it at risk to their person if we need only pump water into the coal deposit and pump it out?

Answer 2

YES !!! The scam of GW is making the oil Co. rich. Just follow the money.

Answer 3

Why burn up our starting capital when we have the technology to go with renewable fuels? Let's leave the rest of the fossil fuels for the next civilization after ours collapses.

Answer 4

Except the main reason to switch to alternative fuels is to reduce our transportation greenhouse gas emissions, and coal has huge CO2 emissions associated with it.

Answer 5

Plug in hybrid cars make the most sense at the present time.  Because they have enough battery range for most commuting, the average commuter would be using the gasoline engine very little in their day to day driving.  The overall mileage would be about 100mpg.  

"Plug-in hybrid vehicles can range from 20 to 60 miles without the use of gasoline after being charged in a standard electrical outlet. That means tens of millions of motorists could make their daily commute using little, if any, gasoline. A motorist driving 9,000 annual gasoline-free miles and 3,000 using gasoline would get 100 mpg (based on vehicles that get 25 mpg)."

"These savings would be even more dramatic if plug-in technology is combined with already-existing flexible fuel technology."

"Charging the battery each night would cost less than $1.00 at current rates. PHEVs outfitted with a battery pack providing a 40-mile electric range could power, using the all-electric mode, more than 60% of the total annual miles traveled by the average American driver."

"Environmental Benefits of Flexible Fuel Plug-Ins

Less Greenhouse Gases and Smog

"The air quality benefits would be magnified if plug-in hybrids were combined with already existing flexible fuel technology. Flexible fuel plug-in hybrids would also benefit American agriculture."

"Additionally, plug-in hybrids, like conventional hybrids, don’t idle when sitting still. Estimates are that in urban driving, idling translates to about 10%-15% of total vehicle carbon emissions."

"Utilities Have the Electric Capacity

Over 40% of the generating capacity in the U.S. sits idle or operates at a reduced load overnight, when most PHEVs would be charged. That means tens of millions of plug-ins could be charged every night without the need to build additional electric generation capacity."

http://www.pluginpartners.org/

Our electric grid even in it's present state, is cleaner than burning gasoline or diesel.  

And it will become much cleaner.

We may find ways to use coal in a much cleaner way in the future.  

In the meantime, we can convert our grid to solar, wind, and other renewables.  Solar power plants, mostly in the southwest have huge potential.  Solar and wind are a good combination because solar puts out its power mostly in the day time, while  wind is generally stronger at night.

Solar power plants can store energy from the daytime as heat, in the form of water, oil, molten salt or as compressed air in underground caverns.  This heat can generate electricity at night or on cloudy days.

Green Wombat  http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/

has a bunch of stories about solar power plants being built and under review in California.

Scientific American  A Solar Grand Plan

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-so...

This proposal shows what solar can do.  It proposes converting the U.S. electric grid to 69% solar by 2050, using solar thermal power plants and concentrating PV solar plants in the southwest.

Answer 6

Why not Pougue 200 M.P.G. carburetor, or steam powered cars.      Check it out for yourself . Coal emissions of mercury,arsenic,and list longer than you want to know,or the E.P.A. will tell.http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/200...

Answer 7

Coal might be abundant now, but it's rising in price.   The estimate used to be we had 250 years worth of coal left in the 1970's.   It's now 30 years later, so pull that down to 220 years supply left.    We now use 2X the amount we did in the '70's, so reduce that to 110 years worth remaining.    China is buying millions of tons of our coal each year as many other countries are likely to do in the future as oil gets more expensive.   Reduce our reserves to 80 years worth.   If new technology or rising oil prices actually makes coal to liquids cheap, we will be running our fleet of vehicles and heating houses with coal oil, while probably exporting huge quantities too.    Reduce our reserves to 40 years at the most.   Not likely to run out by then since we don't have the infrastructure to mine and transport that much coal, but it is a finite resource that will get used much more often in the coming years thus raising prices and reducing reserves.

Answer 8

Coal can be converted to a petroleum, and it is abundant but it is not cheap.   Once gasoline gets to, maybe, the $10 per gallon range, coal may be economically feasible.