What will be the next fuel sorce instead of gas?

Question

we rly need 2 get off gas and i wus wondering wut it might bee?

I KNOW it isnt going to be fish oil or somthing like that but electrick dosnt sound good eather

MABY a new kind of...maby plasma or somhing?

Answer 1

There isn't going to be single fuel to replace gas.

While some tout hydrogen it will not work because it is going to get expensive to produce and distribute.  Not to mention if you don't use it right away it will leak out of the tank i.e. you fill up on Monday go out of town till Friday and when you get back 75% of your fuel is gone.  There is no way to stop it because the molecules are so small.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) can be used as a motor fuel.  (Also propane can be used.)  Mr. Pickens has a plan to replace the natural gas used in electricity production with wind power.  This will free up the natural gas supply for transportation use.  I don't see it going 100% that way but in many ways it will help America.

Then there are bio fuels like ethanol and Bio-diesel.  Ethanol will be a good fuel but it can't be made in enough quantity to feed the demand and not affect food production  This has already happened, last year many farmers planted more profitable corn instead of wheat.  As a result there was a spike in the price of flour over the winter due a shortage.  Bio-diesel is looking good because it can be made from waste vegetable oil.  Again the quantity required is going to put a strain on food production.  One problem with Bio-diesel is that if you don't use it up quickly it can rot in the tank.

My money is on electric cars.  First they run on DOMESTICALLY produced electrons not imported oil.  They reduce overall vehicle pollution by 97%.  They're about 1/10 the cost to drive a mile than a gas car.  They can get their "fuel" from more than 1 source like wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear power, geothermal, natural gas and even coal.  Coal?  Yes it will be cleaner, if 100% of my electricity is provided by coal the net pollution emitted for one mile of travel will be half that of gasoline.

Answer 2

Probably Hydrogen, but any mass-distributed substitute for gas is still many years off.