Are alternative fuel vehicles the solution to the upcoming global, oil, shortage?

Question

Experts predict that within the next 7years there will be a global, oil, shortage. The USA, Brazil, Russia, China, India and Saudi Arabia are demanding more oil than they ever have. The demand will continue to increase, but the output of oil will not.

Will alternative fuel vehicles be the solution to a global, oil, shortage?

Answer 1

GM already running hydrogen powered SUV but the government totally ignores it.

Answer 2

Part of the solution....Foreign aid not being given to middle east when they go back to 3 rd world status is another.

Answer 3

I currently run ethanol (corn alcohol) in a 1999 Dodge 3500 truck. But all Cummins engines were modified from the factory to run on BioD since around 1992 without any modification.

Most vehicles are already equipped to run on Alternative Energy. In fact you’re probably even driving one right now and didn’t even know it. Go to www agua-luna com for a list of this vehicles

The following are a couple types of products to make ethanol easily. There are however many materials one can use including sugar cane, corn, wood, etc. The information was cut directly from a guide I offer at www agua-luna com, it is complete but if anyone’s interested in other types of foods to use or a more specific step by step of the process, including building your own still legally, visit www agua-luna com

"THE usual sources of raw material for alcohol Ethanol production from starch are cereal grains such as corn, wheat, rye, barley, milo (sorghum grains), rice, etc. Other types of starch are available from potatoes of all kinds, Jerusalem artichokes, and other high-starch vegetables. Starch conversion is the standard method of production and the one we will discuss here.

It is possible, however, to make alcohol from sugar-producing plants (saccharine material) such as sugar beets, sugarcane, fruits, and others. These substances need no milling (as do grains), but they do require some kind of grinding or squeezing process. Rapid, efficient fermentation of these sugars has not been as well explored as the process using starch.

A third source of fermentables is cellulose, as found in wood and waste sulphite liquor. This more complex process requires the use of acids to reduce the material to wood sugars. Consequently, most do-it-yourselfers should stick to either starch or sugar.

MILLING

All grains must be ground before mashing to expose the starch granules and help them remain in suspension in a water solution. The grain should be ground into a meal -- not a flour! -- that will pass a 20-mesh screen. On a hammermill, however, a 3/16" screen will suffice.

Potatoes and similar high-moisture starch crops should be sliced or finely chopped. Since potato starch granules are large and easily ruptured, it isn't necessary to maintain the hard rapid boil which is required of the tougher, dryer "flinty" starches found in grains.

CONVERSION WITH ENZYMES

For small batches (5 bushels or less), fill the cooker with water (30 gallons per bushel), and add the meal slowly, to prevent lumps from forming. (When, cooking with steam, or at higher temperatures, it is possible to save energy by using less water at the beginning. But for the "small batcher" with an ordinary cooking apparatus, the most complete conversion is obtained by using the full amount of water right from the start to encourage a rapid rolling boil.)

Next, add 3 measuring spoons -- as provided -- per bushel of Alpha Amylase Enzyme (mixed in water) to the mixture and raise the temperature of the mash to 170 deg F (77 deg C), the optimum working environment for the enzyme. Hold the solution at that temperature for 15 minutes while agitating it vigorously.

At this point all the starch available at 170 deg F has been converted to dextrins, so it's time to raise the temperature of the mash to the boiling point. The concoction should be liquid enough to roll at its own rate -- if not, add 2 to 3 gallons of water. Hold the boil for 30 minutes to complete the liquefaction stage. All the starches are now in solution.

Now reduce the temperature to 170 deg F, using the cooling coil, and add 3 more measuring spoons per bushel of Alpha Amylase Enzyme (mixed in water). After 30 minutes of agitation at this temperature, all the previously released starches will have been reduced to dextrins, thereby completing primary conversion.

During secondary conversion the dextrins are further reduced to simple sugars (maltose and glucose) by the beta, or -- to be more exact -- glucoamylase enzymes. You need Alpha Amylase Enzyme and the yeast necessary to carry out secondary conversion and proper fermentation simultaneously, you can add 6 measuring spoons per bushel of the fermentation powder (mixed in water) as soon as you've brought the temperature down to 85 deg F (29 deg C) using the cooling coils."

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

www AGUA-LUNA com

Stop Global Warming, Receive a FREE Solar Panels Now!!!

Answer 4

firs tthe experts are wrong regarding when the oil shortage is going to hit the world. we have plenty of oil, we just need to go get it.

that said, we are going to need several sources of energy to fuel the world in the coming decades, not just oil based fuels. ethanol, lpg, lng, cng, hydrogen, bio diesel, solar, wind, liquefied coal, and nuclear are all going to be needed.

as for the internal combustion engine, as it sits now it can be run on many of the above fuels with few changes, and those are mostly tuning changes.

the switch over wont be easy, and there will be a lot of misinformation regarding what fuels can and cannot be used. but since the internal combustion engine has not changed in large part since the 1800's, it will run very nicely on a number of different fuels, and given the right set up you can build your own multi fuel engine.

Answer 5

They are part of the solution

here is another part .........

Comprehensive Energy Plan To Lower Gasoline Prices

              This is how we will do it. And this why we will do it.







       This country has so much under used industrial capacity in our Auto Plants, Airplane Plants, Steel Plants and Electronics Plants to make America Energy Independent in 2 to 5 years. We can build enough windmills and solar power and wave generation energy plants to replace 90% of all of the electricity generated by COAL and NATURAL GAS.



      The Coal and Natural Gas saved by Green Replaceable Elecrrical Generation can now be used to make fuel for cars, trucks, busses, boats and airplanes, and or plastics, chemicals, fertilizers and pharmacuticals.



      We need a comprehensive plan that puts America back to work in endeavors that benefit 99% of America.



                                      Howard Scott Pearlman

Answer 6

If that possible happens then i can answer you with this. please watch.. also available from vegetable oil.

Answer 7

I thought Brazil doesnt demand more oil since they use sugar cane ethanol

Answer 8

> Big corn and the hoax about ethanol

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> One of the many mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 calls for oil companies to increase the amount of ethanol mixed with gasoline. President Bush said, during his 2006 State of the Union address, "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." Let's look at some of the "wonders" of ethanol as a replacement for gasoline.

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> Ethanol contains water that distillation cannot remove. As such, it can cause major damage to automobile engines not specifically designed to burn ethanol. The water content of ethanol also risks pipeline corrosion and thus must be shipped by truck, rail car or barge. These shipping methods are far more expensive than pipelines.

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> Ethanol is 20 to 30 percent less efficient than gasoline, making it more expensive per highway mile. It takes 450 pounds of corn to produce the ethanol to fill one SUV tank. That's enough corn to feed one person for a year. Plus, it takes more than one gallon of fossil fuel - oil and natural gas - to produce one gallon of ethanol. After all, corn must be grown, fertilized, harvested and trucked to ethanol producers, all of which are fuel-using activities. And it takes 1,700 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol. On top of all this, if our total annual corn output were put to ethanol production, it would reduce gasoline consumption by 10 or 12 percent.

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> Ethanol is so costly that it wouldn't make it in a free market. That's why Congress has enacted major ethanol subsidies, about $1.05 to $1.38 a gallon, which is no less than a tax on consumers. In fact, there's a double tax: one in the form of ethanol subsidies and another in the form of handouts to corn farmers to the tune of $9.5 billion in 2005 alone.

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> There's something else wrong with this picture. If Congress and President Bush say we need less reliance on oil and greater use of renewable fuels, then why would Congress impose a stiff tariff, 54 cents a gallon, on ethanol from Brazil ? Brazilian ethanol, by the way, is produced from sugar beet and is far more energy efficient, cleaner and cheaper to produce.

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> Ethanol production has driven up the prices of corn-fed livestock, such as beef, chicken and dairy products, and products made from corn, such as cereals. As a result of higher demand for corn, other grain prices, such as soybean and wheat, have risen dramatically. The fact that the United States is the world's largest grain producer and exporter means that the ethanol-induced higher grain prices will have a worldwide impact on food prices.

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> It's easy to understand how the public, looking for cheaper gasoline, can be taken in by the call for increased ethanol usage. But politicians, corn farmers and ethanol producers know they are running a cruel hoax on the American consumer. They are in it for the money. The top leader in the ethanol hoax is Archer Daniels Midland, the country's largest producer of ethanol. Ethanol producers and the farm lobby have pressured farm state congressmen into believing that it would be political suicide if they didn't support subsidized ethanol production. That's the stick. Campaign contributions play the role of the carrot.

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> The ethanol hoax is a good example of a problem economists refer to as narrow, well-defined benefits versus widely dispersed costs. It pays the ethanol lobby to organize and collect money to grease the palms of politicians willing to do their bidding because there's a large benefit for them: higher wages and profits. The millions of gasoline consumers, who fund the benefits through higher fuel and food prices as well as taxes, are relatively uninformed and have little clout. After all, who do you think a politician will invite into his congressional or White House office to have a heart-to-heart: you or an Archer Daniels Midlands executive?

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> Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax , Va. , and a columnist for Creators Syndicate Inc. His column appears on Wednesdays. Leave e-mail at http://www.creators.com/.

Answer 9

they could be depending on the alternative feul they are using, Ethanol can only function with a car with the use of oil so it may slow the shortage but not end it. Same goes for Gas/electric hybrids

Pure electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars are the best way to avoid the shortage but the regular production of these vehical are 10, 15, maybe even 20 years from now seeing as general purpose prototypes are still in development.

Answer 10

no,magnitisum is the solultion will last forever with no big oil to interviene.

Answer 11

Eventaully the world will run out of oil to meet our energy needs. Alternative fuel vehicles are essential in not just easing our current and near future oil crisis, but are also essential in ensuring that we have adequate adaptive technologies. Certain alternative fuel sources are not worth their cost, for example hydrogen and biodeisel. Neither of these will ever adequately meet our needs, and cause huge amounts of polution in their manufacturing process. Electric cars are pretty efficient, but do still require batteries. If some of the kinks in this technology can be solved, it is a viable option. Where our electricity to power these electric cars comes from is also a concern. Alot of our eletrical energy comes from water turbines and coal. A more environmentally friendly option would be a combination of solar and wing power, each of which is free!

There is a fascinating book which came out a few years ago. It is called American Theocracy. It speaks to some of the scientific aspects of America and oil, as well as the rest of the world. It also talks about how it is essential for world powers to be able to alter their energy use and develope new technologies as energy sources often change the political climate in the world.