When crude oil becomes scarcer?

Question

Once crude oil starts costing $200 a barrel. Is there a way to convert all existing gas reciprocating auto engines to run off of Ethanol? There is a quick way to produce ethanol by building "algae" farms that make bio mass directly into crude oil by some biological process. 1 acre produces around 50X as much bio-fuel as 1 acre of corn fields. But nobody ever hears about this because the Oil companies want to shelve the idea. It's called killing the competition.

But back to the original question. How would this conversion be done? Aside from special fuel lines that don't corrode. What if you have a 2008 Porsche 911 Carrera S? How would you modify such a sophisticated engine like that?

Answer 1

your porsche engine is a piece of c**p-u could run bio veg-oil in it and go faster than the 90mph ur doing now.

Answer 2

I'd ditch the car and ride a bike.

Answer 3

It would more likely happen that as prices are climbing fast manufacturers will look ahead to prepare their vehicles to run, as the Nissan all fuel engine does, on virtually al different fuels from coal oil to vegetable oil, bunker, gasoline, ethanol.. you name it, it adapts beautifully.

Well, except it is not as economical on diesel or gasoline as the best engines intended to run solely on those fuels.  It is a bit less economical for example than VW TDI.

Nissan's all-fuel engine could take most bio fuels in its stride if they are liquid or liquefied gases.

Answer 4

The porsche is such a sophisticated engine system, I wouldn't touch it.  These engines are designed to run only on gasoline, and wouldn't do well with other fuels.  They would need to be completely redesigned/rebuilt...  It's just not worth the cost.  Sell the carrera, and buy something else.

Answer 5

Nothing scarce about oil in the ground. Price is by design. OPEC, Exxon-Mobil, politicians, environmentalist. There won't ever be "cheap" energy, no matter the source. Greed rules. Just human nature. If you're smart enough, no problem. The money to buy the energy for your Porsche will always be there .

Answer 6

The should improved the "World's Cleanest Car" by then.

"BBC News is reporting that a French company has developed a pollution-free car which runs on compressed air. India's Tata Motors has the car under production and it may be on sale in Europe and India by the end of the year.

The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up -- roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000."

Answer 7

It is not so much when oil gets scarce, it is when countries decide NOT to sell to the US...that is the bigger threat.

Answer 8

People have been running ethanol cars since Prohibition. All it takes is to drill out your carburettor jets. If you use EFI, it just means reprogramming your computer. That and the non corrosive fuel lines is basically it.

Answer 9

When this happens in a few thousand years, I'm sure we will have figured something out.

Answer 10

Engines are designed with a particular fuel in mind prior to all the expense it takes to put something into production. If you have to modify an engine before it hits the market you loose 75% of the market and cut your profit margin. Rather pointless to start such an endever. If oil goes to $200/bbl. you are not going to be burning it but using it for petrochemicals in order to get the best return on your investment.