Which alternative to fossil fuel will survive the coming oil crash and why?

Question

If you had to pick one alternative (biodiesel, electric, etc.) which do you believe will be the most successful and why?

Answer 1

What oil crash?  As far as I can tell there is still plenty of oil or oil substitutes around.  Consider the following:

The best estimate for undiscovered oil reserves places them at 1-2 times the total discovered reserves to date.

This estimate does not include kerogen from oil shale (which is not really oil, but can be easily converted).  U.S. kerogen reserves are know to be greater than the total discovered reserves in the Middle East.  China also has considerable known reserves of oil shale.

The technology for converting coal to liquid fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel has been around for 60 years.  Germany fueled much of their army and airforce using this technology during WWII.  South Africa also made extensive use of coal to fuel technology during the apartied era.  The U.S. and China both have massive coal reserves that could be used to produce transportation fuels.

Answer 2

I am more interested in why you buy into this media driven dribble about an oil crash.

Its just a bunch of commodity traders driving up the price for their own personal profit.  We could suck dino fuel for centuries and centuries to come.

Answer 3

I think the "oil crash" is moderately overrated, even though eventually it will come.  The more serious problem is the huge transfer of wealth from the US to middle east & elsewhere, that $100/barrel oil causes.

In the near term we should copy the Europeans and promote a shift to ordinary petro diesel engines.  We should make them flexfuel engines that can run both petro diesel and biodiesel to appease the green groups.

As Rudolph Diesel proved a century ago, his diesel engine cycle is a dramatically more efficient thermodynamic cycle than the gasoline engine.  Biodiesel fuel is actually pretty cool too, and much more practical than ethanol, but greenies will always find imperfections in every solution.

Longer term I think electric cars or plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt, will take over.  There is one big pro and one big con.

Pro:  Electric motor powered cars are going to be soooo much better than gas engine cars once they catch on.  The acceleration, regen braking, super quietness, and the elimination of gear shifting transmissions will be vastly superior.

Con:  The batteries are getting better, but this is a serious cost and difficulty issue.  They don't age well and they are heavy.  They can now be recharged really quickly, but our power transmission system is not adequate to quick charge large numbers of cars.

Answer 4

man oh man....do i wish you were a scientist. i have a universal idea for the next generations of transportation in our planet. re-new able,non-polluting, effortless and possible! every thing we know today

will be obsolete. Bono, (of U2) will love it .

but the powers," that be", will not make money on it .....so it will not happen.

Answer 5

hydrogen from solar power.

hydrogen is the most energy dense fuel and it can be used in fuel cells that emit no pollution. while solar power only requires a small area to generate necessary power.

Answer 6

If there was a better alternative, we would be using it. Hundreds of thousands very bright Scientists, Engineers, and Inventors all over the world have been studying this for many, many years. Why does everyone automatically assume they are all just stupid?

There are many countries around the world that have been in an energy crisis for a long time. (Japan, Korea, Many European countries, and others)

Don't you think they have smart people? Every one of you that makes these statements assuming the oil companies or car companies are why we don't have good alternatives are very offensive to all of these countries and their excellent Engineers and Scientists. The U S is not the center of the universe when it comes to brains, education, and ingenuity.

Answer 7

Sugar cane production of Brazil looks like a major player in alternative fuel for powering vechiles.

Answer 8

Biodiesel definitely:

Runs in existing proven technology engines with no modifications.

Neglible power loss vs. petro diesel.

Can be locally produced.

Highest energy density of the alternative fuels, so you keep the range of vehicles the same.

Imagine running an 18 wheeler on electric, you'd need a whole OTHER trailer full of batteries to power the thing more than a few miles.  Biodiesel is a drop-in replacement for diesel.

Answer 9

i would have to say electric, because i think that wind power is the most economical, in the long run, and it can be used to power electric vehicles.

Answer 10

I think we need to look at water and solar.  Bio-diesel from crops is going to create env. issues since we will not be able to keep up with the demand and need to go to other countries and exploit their resources.  I've seen these engines that can run on salt water.... don't know how true or practical it is, but it should be considered.

Answer 11

I very much doubt that a single technology will dominate the energy solutions for tomorrow's vehicles. most likely it will be hybrid, maybe cars, where bio fuels or hydrogen combustion motors,that are coupled with electric transmission and regeneration to save energy, will dominate.

Answer 12

Using petroleum and diesel is not good for environment and thats why we should look for alternatives doesent matter if we have infinite amounts of oil under earth (which itself is not possible though)

The alternative could be a combination of many , most probably bio-diesel and electricity from Sun.

If Solar PV can triple its efficiency then chances are that we would go for electricity and hydrogen fuel cell (which again is electric motor)

Biofuels should be from non-agricultural arid areas mostly desert and barren lands. For these plants like Jatropha are most suitable.

Answer 13

Did you hear of Brazil's recent petroleum reserves? They are huge. There will be on oil crash anytime soon. This is a scam. Do you know who the people managing the world's oil? Well yeah, the same people telling us there will be an oil crash just to fill their greedy pockets. But the most reliable and no need for exploits nor transportation needs; solar energy. Let agriculture feed the world.