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Originally Posted by Confed999
Let me change the subject a little. One of the main reasons I don't like hybreds is that they still use oil. I tend to think it's just delaying disaster, and not by very long. So, what do you think about other alternatives? Hydrogen (fuel cells included) is promising, but extraction methods are currently either environmentaly unsound, or use more power than they produce. Plant fuels (alcohol included) would make a good supplement, but they too are enviornmentally unsound in production and consumption. Thermal/pressure oil production is very promising, but it's in the early stages of development, and it doesn't help air polution much, just a little in the refining process, since oil is still the fuel. (I think thermal/pressure production should be fully implemented anyway, at least enough to dispose of all the non-radioactive toxic/bio-hazardous wastes.) There are others that escape me at the moment, feel free to mention anything I missed.
Personally I think hydrogen is the one that should be getting the most attention. It is the most common element in the known universe, and it's industrial applications are immense. Not to mention it's perfect for space exploration, Jupiter and Saturn are giant filling stations.
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Actually its been a few years since someone last came up with the "successful cold fusion" hoax. So we could throw that in too.
I agree with hydrogen based fuels, but as you say extracting the hydrogen is the tricky bit. What we need are large Bussard colelctors in orbit
. Burning plants is ok, as long as any Nitrous Oxides etc are removed form the exhaust. Stuffing carbon dioxide into the air that has only been removed from it for a few years doesn't harm anything.
Here is a discussion on some of the alternatives.
http://www.greencar.com/index.cfm?content=features2
One of the major problems, of course, is the refuelling infrastructure. Petrol is readily available everywhere. None of the others are, and the local filling stations will either require extra tanks, or have to give up petrol space for the other fuels. And of course pumping a gas takes different equipment to pumping the liquid fuels.
But, hey, we know this problem si coming!
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Anytime I hear "BBC" I think of my favorite TV show, "Red Dwarf". You like that one? It's about the only TV show I'm a fan of.
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I loved Red Dwarf - Craig Charles is from the same part of the world as me. There as been talk for a long time of a Red Dwarf movie, but it keeps falling through - mainly over the nationality of Lister!