Comment Re:Automotive fuel (Score 1) 384
Biodiesel does produce CO2, but significantly less than traditional diesel, more on the magnitude of gasoline. The benefits to biodiesel are great... sure the infrastructure is already in place and its easy to use (runs in all diesel engines).. but the most important attributes are this...
1. It is renewable
2. Producing it produces oxygen and consumes CO2
3. It has the best energy balance of other fuels (it takes less energy to produce than others)
4. Using just a little bit like a 20% blend decreases pollution and dependance on foreign fuels.
Now everyone say hydrogen is the future... but ask yourself, how do you make hydrogen? The most common method is hydrolysis of water (spliting water into hydrogen and oxygen with electricity) but there are chemical processes, etc. So to create hydrogen you need to produce electricity to convert the water to hydrogen. This means that hydrogen is not an energy source, by a medium in which energy travels... just like a battery. We are simply moving the energy production from the car to the power plant. So I don't see any advantage here EXCEPT you reduce the amount of pollution in cities.
I think the future is "diversity". We need to except all forms of energy sources and allow the market to handle it. We should have hybrids, biodiesel, electic, natural gas, high efficiency gasoline, fuel cell and hydrogen vehicles on the road and continue to allow these technologies to develop to increase efficiency while maintaining drivability. I think the government should realize the petroleum has hidden costs and tax that while providing benefits to develop new technologies for efficiency.
1. It is renewable
2. Producing it produces oxygen and consumes CO2
3. It has the best energy balance of other fuels (it takes less energy to produce than others)
4. Using just a little bit like a 20% blend decreases pollution and dependance on foreign fuels.
Now everyone say hydrogen is the future... but ask yourself, how do you make hydrogen? The most common method is hydrolysis of water (spliting water into hydrogen and oxygen with electricity) but there are chemical processes, etc. So to create hydrogen you need to produce electricity to convert the water to hydrogen. This means that hydrogen is not an energy source, by a medium in which energy travels... just like a battery. We are simply moving the energy production from the car to the power plant. So I don't see any advantage here EXCEPT you reduce the amount of pollution in cities.
I think the future is "diversity". We need to except all forms of energy sources and allow the market to handle it. We should have hybrids, biodiesel, electic, natural gas, high efficiency gasoline, fuel cell and hydrogen vehicles on the road and continue to allow these technologies to develop to increase efficiency while maintaining drivability. I think the government should realize the petroleum has hidden costs and tax that while providing benefits to develop new technologies for efficiency.
