Alternative fuels

[phoenix]

With the ever increasing fuel bills and the government's crisis on emission's etc. What alternative fuels do you think should be researched / used more / developed

[brandra]

Environmentally best fuel for the car at present is LPG it is far cleaner than ether petrol or diesel, like all fossil fuels it will run out.
I think that society has to make some decisions about future life styles.
If we go for what in the long term would be the best environmentally sound solution we would go for a low consumption life style that would mean no cars and much more self sufficiency where we may generate much of our own energy with solar panels or wind generators.
This would be the best solution for the environment however it would course a total collapse of the world economy and there would be chaos in the interim.
The other option is a nuclear powered society where high consumption is still possible but that comes with all the risks and problems of atomic energy. accidents and waist disposal being the main issues.

There are a lot of potentially good alternatives but I think we may have left it to late to develop them so my money says that world governments will turn to nuclear power as the easiest option.

[hedgewitch]

Hee hee hee brandra - you have 666 posts!
Alternative energy, where do we go from here.
One of the best ways is of course generating our own such as solar panels and wind generators etc etc but as these options are not viable for a lot of people we need to look closer to home for making any changes in our fuel consumption, solutions that we can realistically adhere to each and every one of us. It is usually the little things that make a lot of difference, especially when done on a global scale.

How many people take the car when it's not really necessary?
Try walking, cycling, public transport or sharing lifts with a friend.
Try and buy locally grown produce as and when you can, you'll find the quality better as another advantage.
Switch off lights and other electrical appliances when you're not using them. You'd be surprised how much energy is wasted when you put the T.V on stand-by or leave your mobile charger plugged in.
Place a house brick in the water cistern of your toilet - you will save 50% water every time you flush!
Don't leave the tap running when brushing your teeth ( You'd be amazed how many people do this ) just turn it on when you want to rinse your brush and then turn it off again.
Keep a water butt in your garden so as it fills up with rain water to use for watering your garden during the summer.
Keep a compost heap/bin - neither are difficult and time consuming and you're reducing the amount of waste going in to land fill sites.
Re-cycle ALL your re-cyclable rubbish.
Try and grow as much of your own produce as you can - even if it's just a couple of Tomato Plants you'll still be making a difference.
Have a fireplace in your house that is unused or blocked off? Un block it and use it. You'd never have to cut down a Tree or buy fire wood - just go to your local dump and see how much wood there is just lying there in the form of chairs, tables, old fencing, wooden pallets - they'll only end up rotting away!
I've rambled on rather a lot more than I intended to but conserving our planet and resources is something very close to my heart and something I am very passionate about. I started this post 'cos I really wanted to say about using used Vegetable oil in your cars as a source of fuel. It has been shown to be cleaner and cheaper than petrol, the cheaper reason being the main cause for people trying it out, but that doesn't matter. It is a great way of using old Vegetable oil which would otherwise be filling up land sites ( you can't put Veg oil on the compost ) or thrown down the drains which is also a huge problem.
I'll see if I can find a link to an article about it as I've forgotten a lot of the information, there was something about it can only be used in deisel engines - I can't remember.
if anyone's interested I'll post a link.

[watershield]

One of the primary contributing problems is the way we develop our communities.
Large spread out cities, shopping located at distances to far to walk and carry bags. Forcing the use of bus systems that run on diesel and are poorly maintained.

Edmonton Alberta is / has been working on a solution for some years now.
Light Rail Transit (electric trains) the systems is being expanded to the growing outer areas of the city reducing the number of vehicles coming into the downtown core.
As small bedroom communities are developed (little communities of 100 - 200 homes) a small retail service area is provided with shopping for food, pharmacy, etc.
But the rail connects these communities to the larger centers. School, theater, commerce all link by fast, clean, safe, public transportation.

The current draw back is the electricity is produced with diesel generators. In some locations, Industry co operates with feeding steam generated power into the public line. And in many locations, hydroelectric power is available.

Yes, at this time, nuclear power may well be the easiest solution to the growing needs.
But more work needs to be done on hydrogen fired steam generation to produce electricity.
After all it's far safer in the long run and produces no radioactive waste.

[brandra]

Here is a bit of information that you might not be so keen to hear.
in 1972 the energy used to extract 35 barrels of oil from the ground was one barrel at the present time it takes the equivalent of I barrel of oil to extract 5 barrels from the ground and with present trends by 2030 it will take 1 barrel of oil to extract 1 barrel of oil and our society will collapse.
That is how long we have to get an alternative up and running. Looking at this it could be to late.
Now might be a good time to hone your cottage industry skills.

[watershield]

That's why I like the oil sands development in Alberta.
Actual cost to produce one barrel of oil is $11.00 US.
And look what it sells for.

The reserve in Alberta is projected to be larger than the total reserves of the middle east combined.

These projections of how much oil it takes to produce oil is the oil companies themselves pumping smoke up some ones back side to justify the high price they are selling it for.

I'm not worried about running out of oil, I'm worried that we won't.

[phoenix]

Valid point WS! If we do not run low on oil then there will be no incentive to develop alternative fuels and we will continue to merclessly pollute the planet