Alternative energy and the Automobile Industry

[Mr_Moore]

Will we see airplanes driven by more environmental healthy engine's any time soon?
What is the dream regarding alternative fueling?
In the best case scenario, what kind of motors do we have in 20-50 years. What kind of performance are we looking at? what kind of special features?

[adios]

Actually U.S. automakers have been lobbying for legislation friendly to flex fuel alternatives where 85% of the fuel used is ethanol. U.S. imposes I believe a $0.54 per gallon excise tax on imported ethanol that is much more effeciently produced than corn based ethanol from the U.S. Eliminate the $0.54 a gallon excise tax and you'd probably see more interest in usage. Many other issues that I don't feel like getting into now regarding ethanol ussage. Probably covered by others and certainly in other threads over the years.

[Jamougha]

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Will we see airplanes driven by more environmental healthy engine's any time soon?

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Maybe a factor of two decrease in fuel consumption based on the stuff they have on the drawing board. In fact they've just dusted off a bunch of old designs. Most of the tech was already there, it just needed something to make the manufacturers take a risk.

No way around needing kerosine however. But there are ways of making synthetic oil from organic substances; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymerization

[The once and future king]

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I think Ethanol could be the future

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I get tired of reading this. Ethanol is only viable as a replacement to petroleum if you want to cultivate an area of land the size of Europe for bio fuels. That is just to replace consumption in NA.

Also LOL at just assuming the market will just magically provide a technological solution. Mankind still has many problems that if solved would provide $$$$$$$$$ to those providing the solution.

According to those making the above assumption, I can expect all of those problems to be solved by the end of next week.

[Orlando Salazar]

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[ QUOTE ]
I think Ethanol could be the future

[/ QUOTE ]

I get tired of reading this. Ethanol is only viable as a replacement to petroleum if you want to cultivate an area of land the size of Europe for bio fuels. That is just to replace consumption in NA.

Also LOL at just assuming the market will just magically provide a technological solution. Mankind still has many problems that if solved would provide $$$$$$$$$ to those providing the solution.

According to those making the above assumption, I can expect all of those problems to be solved by the end of next week.

[/ QUOTE ]
bio butanol

[Jamougha]

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think Ethanol could be the future

[/ QUOTE ]

I get tired of reading this. Ethanol is only viable as a replacement to petroleum if you want to cultivate an area of land the size of Europe for bio fuels. That is just to replace consumption in NA.

Also LOL at just assuming the market will just magically provide a technological solution. Mankind still has many problems that if solved would provide $$$$$$$$$ to those providing the solution.

According to those making the above assumption, I can expect all of those problems to be solved by the end of next week.

[/ QUOTE ]
bio butanol

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That doesn't solve the land problem.

[maxtower]

You just need gasoline to become so expensive that regular joes can't afford to buy trucks.

[DblBarrelJ]

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You just need gasoline to become so expensive that regular joes can't afford to buy trucks.

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OK, we're there, now what?

[Moseley]

You need not worry about "harming" the automobile or oil industries. There are over 100 kinds of autos (available throughout the world) that get over 40 MPG on the highway, and only two are available in the U.S., and they are the expensive ones.

The Kia Rio gets 38MPG under perfect conditions and its base price is 10.5K

Does that give you an indication of who is running the show?

[Actual God]

[ QUOTE ]
You need not worry about "harming" the automobile or oil industries. There are over 100 kinds of autos (available throughout the world) that get over 40 MPG on the highway, and only two are available in the U.S., and they are the expensive ones.

The Kia Rio gets 38MPG under perfect conditions and its base price is 10.5K

Does that give you an indication of who is running the show?

[/ QUOTE ]

why doesn't detroit put out loads of these types of cars then?