Are we ready for the end of gas?

Question

Are we ready for the end of gas and the beginning of another energy source or fuel?

What do you think the new fuel will be?

What will happen to all the old cars that run on gas?

Answer 1

I am, as are thousands maybe even millions of people living on Earth. Most people aren't, and I will laugh at them when they can't afford gas anymore.

The new fuel will be vegetable oil and biodiesel. No question.

What will happen to old cars? Good question. A lot of jerks will just crush them, seeing them as useless. Smart classic car lovers though will simply make a few modifications to their carburetors and burn methane/natural gas or alcohol in them. It probably won't be economical, but then again, classic cars weren't meant to be.

I personally think that all gasoline should be reserved for owners of classic and racing vehicles. No reason for people to be driving trucks around using up all the gas when they could be using superior biodiesel.

Answer 2

first gasoline wont be going away in our lifetimes, there is still too much crude oil available to stop using it.

second while new sources of energy are being developed, they are still a ways off into the future since there is little infrastructure to handle these fuels, and few vehicles that use the fuels. it is a catch 22 situation. no one wants to buy the cars if they cant fuel them, and since there are no cars that use the fuels, no one wants to develop the infrastructure, and since there is no demand for the cars, no one wants to manufacture the vehicles.

as for what will happen with older cars, since most will end up in museums or collections, they will be driven very rarely, and will be modified to run on alcohol, probably made by the cars owners. others will be modified to run on what ever fuel is available, or converted to electric power.

Answer 3

In my opinion, the new fuel would be hydrogen for several reasons 1) Its green - does not cause pollution. 2) The technology has been out there for decades waiting to be tap.3) Increase awareness of the polluting effects of fossil fuel 4) the price of fossil has gone way up for people to afford it.5) Fuel cells that  power electric cars runs on hydrogen.6) Internal combustion engines that usually runs on gasoline alone could be made to run on hydrogen or combination (hydrogen assisted gasoline fuel mixture) 7) As many have claimed, it could be use in deisel engines too.

So old cars that runs on gasoline only need to be converted to run on hydrogen.

So are we ready for the end of gas?  Well I am, I have a working hydrogen gas generator that only uses half ampere at 12 volts dc which I designed 30 years ago.

Answer 4

As Prof. Farnesworth might say, Good news! We can keep using gasoline if we want to! Check this out!

04/29/08 - Researchers Create "Green Gasoline" From Biomass.

Researchers have made a breakthrough in the development of "green gasoline," a liquid identical to standard gasoline in energy contant yet created from sustainable biomass sources like switchgrass and poplar trees. The discovery could transform the renewable fuel economy by eliminating the need to grow corn for ethanol and rescue America from importing expensive and dwindling foreign oil supplies. For their new approach, the UMass researchers rapidly heated cellulose in the presence of solid catalysts, materials that speed up reactions without sacrificing themselves in the process. They then rapidly cooled the products to create a liquid that contains many of the compounds found in gasoline. The entire process was completed in under two minutes using relatively moderate amounts of heat. The compounds that formed in that single step, like naphthalene and toluene, make up one fourth of the suite of chemicals found in gasoline. The liquid can be further treated to form the remaining fuel components or can be used "as is" for a high octane gasoline blend. "Green gasoline is an attractive alternative to bioethanol since it can be used in existing engines and does not incur the 30 percent gas mileage penalty of ethanol-based flex fuel," said John Regalbuto, who directs the Catalysis and Biocatalysis Program at NSF and supported this research. "In theory it requires much less energy to make than ethanol, giving it a smaller carbon footprint and making it cheaper to produce," Regalbuto said. "Making it from cellulose sources such as switchgrass or poplar trees grown as energy crops, or forest or agricultural residues such as wood chips or corn stover, solves the lifecycle greenhouse gas problem that has recently surfaced with corn ethanol and soy biodiesel."

http://www.keelynet.com/#whatsnew

Answer 5

We have so many alternative energy sources at our finger tips but well you know monopolies, altho I am not qualified to answer this question, petroleum required cars would need to do a slow phase out, and somebody will probably come up with a conversion kit to use on older cars to let them run on alternative fuels, most likely already have. wish I had a more intellegent answer, but I do know that since the 70's (probably before) they(whoever they are) were looking at alternative energy sources, deisel gas being one, it was first meant to use vegetable oil.

Answer 6

We need to be

Answer 7

No need to worry, we will be using gasoline and diesel for many years to come.  There is more oil in the ground than we have used in all of our history.  When that is gone, we will still have the keragen in oil shale and after that fuels made from coal.  After all that is gone, then we can begin to worry.

Answer 8

To answer the last point first--as the technology changes, the old (gas driven cars) will be phased out, and for the most part driven to the end of their useful life.  That's how such technological shifts occur; the are rarely sudden.

Are we ready?  No.  We could be.  However, almost no real work has been done on formulating the necessary pubic policy.   That is vital--it affects a whole range of issues, from highway construction to air quality to fiscal policy.

The GOP--actually the corporate interests and the cults on the religious right--have spent years blocking any sort of action.  There's a lot of catch -up work to be done.

The new energy source won't be one thing.  That is going to seem a little strange to Americans--we've spent the last 60 years without any real choice except driving a car.  We are, by the way, the only industrialized nation where that is the case.  In all other advanced nations, people routinely have a menu of choices--cars, yes--but also rail, comprehensive bus survices, bike paths, walking districts in urban areas,e tc.  

Consumers in America are going to have to get used to having choices again, instead of having corporate interests and the government dictate how they travel.  That being said--here's some of the things you can expect:

> greatly expanded mass transit systems.  These are energy efficient, run on electricty (trains, that is)--and unlike road systems in the United States today, can operate as private sector entities, instead of being purely government monopolies as the conservatives in the US advocate.

> Electric cars. Not hydrogen or biofuels.  Building an electric car is cheaper, safer, and you get performance comparable to gas-powered cars.  They are still costly, but that will come down as the market volume increases--the basic technology is simply less complex and expensive.

>The source fo the electricty for electric cars--and increasing demand for electricty generallly, will come from a variety of sources.  Themain ones will likely be solar, wind, and nuclear.  

>Coal, as well as oil, is on te way out.  Nor should you listen to the people quacking about this putting us at a disadvantage re China, who has made the mistake of committing to a coal based power system.  Solar and other methods are going to be cheaper within the next decade.  China is going to be facing high energy costs--and the US will be 10 years ahead of them min adopting modern, cost efficient energy technology.

> Biofuels are not going to be a major player.  First, the production system is not "carbon-neutral" wen the energy cost of processing is included. Second, quite aside from creating upward pressure on other agricultural products, really large scale implementation (attempting to use biofuels as a primary fuel for transportation) would require so much land be cultivated it would be an ecological disaster in its own right.  Look for bio-fuels to be restricted to special purpose vehicles and aircraft.

>Energy-efficient technology and consumer products.  To quote Adam Rome (author of "Bulldozer in the Countryside"), todays homes are NOT  built to conserve energy, tey are built to consume energy.  That's going to change.

>More and more people are going to wake up to how much money our current systems are costing THEM.  Example: 3 years ago, our utilities averaged$180-230 per month.  With a few simple changes (weatehrstrippping and sealing windows in our apartment, insisting the landlord fix leaks, compact florescent bulbs), that is now down to around $130-170.  We're averaging a $50/monthsavings, despite being limited in what we can do (it's an apartment).

>Combine that with thesavings of NOT paying $200-400/month for gasoline.  Cut that in half with fuel efficient engines.

It adds up--and the numbers--for individual families--are NOT trivial.

>as this takes hold, look for a sustained period of economic growth.  New technology investment means new businesses and new jobs.  It means putting significantly more money in consumers pockets, which when spent will stimulate demand for other products.

>The oil and coal (and natural gas) industries will go into decline.  There will be a lot o f whining from these special interests.  Bottom line: they are liabilities --the sooner they are gone, the better for our environment AND our economy.

Seriously--look, the oil industry hasn't built a refinery or created a single new jobs in almost 2 decades.  Just the still small solar energy idustry is creating thousands of new jobs a year already.  We DON'T need oil or coal for anything.

Answer 9

First of all we will never see an "end" of petroleum.  It will only get more and more and more expensive...

We will see more use of other fossil fuels:

- Oils from oil sands,

- Oils from oil shale,

- Oils from coal conversion,

- Coal gassification,

- Further uses for natural gas,

- Use of methane hydrate for gas,

We will see more about biofuels:

- First generation:  Ethanol from corn, sugar and other foods.

- Second generation:  Green gasoline and diesel fuel from cellulose, rotting biomass, wood, grass, etc.

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cn...

- Third generation:  Oilgae - Oils and diesel fuel from algae.  Just sunlight and carbon dioxide and it turns to oil.  Talk about a cure for global warming!  This is the most efficient, cost productive, and environmentally friendly of the biofuels.

So all the old cars will still be using liquid fuels... they just might not come from the old petroleum fields of the past.

Answer 10

it should be water, if thats even possible..

gas costs waay too much..

Answer 11

i think that there may be an alternative resource out there. but i still think gas would end up to be the most easily used. for vehicles for example, you have to have a spark to ignite the engine. whatelse could do this but gas and oils?

with all due respect,

Jake