What Airplanes could use as Energy if Gasoline gets over in the world?

Question

well, they would make some electrical batteries for cars, yea possible, but i don't take they would be able to run a huge plane by an electrical battery after Gasoline finished, what do you think?

Answer 1

There are testing aircraft that can run on a blend of biofuels, but these fuels are very expensive.  Much of this biofuel comes from food crops, so it is likely there will me much less air travel and more, slower surface travel as oil depletes.

Hydrogen may work for some short range applications.

Alcohol, like butanol, may also work, but the specific energy of a biodiesel like fuel is much higher.

The other thing might be rigid lighter-than-air craft, like this:

http://www.aerosml.com/ml866/model.html

They can't carry all that much payload, and are no faster than trains, but may be an option for the very wealthy.

Air travel for everyone is on it's way out.  We will have to use ways of moving things around that are less energy intensive.

DK

Answer 2

They will use some form of alcohol. You can never run out of that as long as we can grow plants :)

Answer 3

As long as energy must be carried, chemical energy is most likely. Most use Jet fuel (a light oil), though many small ones use gasoline. Hydrocarbons like oil and gasoline are pretty much the best.

Ethanol is mostly also a hydrocarbon, but will not likely ever be a major fuel, there are many better options. Alcohol has less energy and more weight than HC's. The purpose of using ethanol in the US is to enrich corporate farmers and the corporations that own ethanol plants. It's use as a fuel or fuel extentender is a stupid policy that is not likely to survive after government subsidies (and lame related regulations) go away. Only way it makes any sense is if it efficiently uses waste cellulose. This ethanol or methane would be better used elsewhere than aviation tho.

Short term, if crude oil got short, we can make hydrocarbon fuels from coal (so called CTL or coal to liquid process). Biofuels are similar HC's that are grown. Bioengineered plants likely to make bio-diesel more efficiently, however, growing fuel is probably not a long range solution due to competition from food crops, unless you use desert land not suited for growing food.

Long term, probably either nuclear devices of some type on board, some high capacity electrical energy storage system (either super batteries or super-duper capacitors), or electrical energy can be beamed to the aircraft from the ground or from orbit. Using current technology, the receivers are not suitable for airplanes, but this can be addressed.

Answer 4

helium and air currents.

Battery technology is not as advanced to fly an aircraft for any great distance. As an aircraft uses it's fuel it gets lighter and can travel farther on the fuel thats left this will not be true with batteries since the weight of the batteries will never change..

Answer 5

Gasoline will never completely go away, it will just get more and more expensive, and usage will go down and down until supply matches demand.  There is actually a huge supply of oil in the form of oil shales and other such, it's just that it is very expensive to access it. Oil products can also be made from coal, and there is a lot of coal.

Airplanes probably will continue to use fuel from oil, with some alcohol from grain and other crops, and their usage will also go down as prices of air travel go up and up,.

PS, airplanes do not run off gasoline, they use jet fuel, which is closer to kerosine.