Alternative method for gas?

Question

With gasoline prices soaring these days, people are beginning to look for alternative energy sources for running cars and heating and cooling their homes. Research an alternative method and describe how it could be utilized to help people save money at the pumps.

Answer 1

heat and cool homes w/ solar power... btw, no one wants to plug in their car every day...

Answer 2

Well, the only way for people to save money at the pump would either be hybrids, or expanded oil production.

Presently, all of the alternatives to petrol (biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen) would be more expensive at the pump.

That is, unless... Uncle Sam decides to tax the bejeezers out of the petrol, and gives massive subsidies to the other stuff.  Then it might actually become cheaper at the pump.  HOWEVER, Uncle Sam wouldn't be able to keep the subsidies up too long, and everyone would probably declare 'open season' on the Democrats who raised the taxes.

Of course, you could totally skip the pump and use the plug.

BTW, finding alternate energy sources for other energy uses (e.g. home heating, cooking) won't really have any impact on gasoline prices.  Very little of the oil suitable for gasoline and diesel production is used for other purposes.  While it is possible to turn 'less suitable' oil into gasoline, there are very few refineries capable of doing this.  So switching from an oil furnace to a natural gas one wouldn't make more oil available for gasoline, because that heating oil would have never found its way into a gas tank in the first place.

Now, replacing your gasoline powered yard tools with electric ones would save some gasoline.  The average yard-owning family probably uses about 20 gallons for yard care a year, which is probably about 1% of their total yearly gasoline usage.

Answer 3

I've been following an alternative to fossil fueled vehicles, the use of compressed air tanks, instead of heavy and expensive batteries! Think about it, I think it has promise..