Reply #6: There is no easy substitute for Oil

[NEOBuckeye]

From: http://www.energybulletin.net/4791.html

Why is selecting and developing alternatives to oil so very important? Consider three reasons: Oil is a hydrocarbon whose natural product of combustion is carbon dioxide, which increases global warning. Oil is easily the number one source of energy, meeting 38.7 percent of the world’s demand, and 63 percent of oil reserves are located in the volatile Middle East. The world production of oil will peak and begin to decline in the next several years while demand continues to grow, leaving us with a permanently increasing oil shortage.

Oil-based fuels are unique in that they provide the portability and energy density transportation requires. Vehicles and planes, for example, must be able to carry enough fuel to provide needed power and range; they can’t be tethered by a several-hundred-mile-long electric cable or natural gas hose. Oil is special in that it is much better suited for transportation than other sources of energy, including uranium, coal, natural gas, rivers, wind, and the sun. Oil-based fuels provide over 97% of fuel for transportation.

When should we organize and accelerate research and development (R&D) efforts for alternatives to oil? The time is now. The oil shortage will come very soon relative to the lead times for solving the many technical and social problems of oft-mentioned alternatives. Many of the technical problems require research, which by its very nature and definition has an indefinite completion date. We are already late in working aggressively to decide on alternatives to oil. If we continue to delay, the coming oil shortage will bring very high prices, lower standards of living, reduced competitiveness, worsening of an already bad balance of trade, and shortages of fuels and petrochemical products.

Aren’t we doing R&D on alternatives now? Yes, but we are not getting results fast enough. Hydrogen, for example, is often touted as our savior. However, hydrogen poses some huge hurdles. It can be made from natural gas, but this source is also a hydrocarbon that is in limited supply and that produces carbon dioxide. It can be extracted from water by electrolysis, but this process is very energy intensive. Where do we get the energy for electrolysis? Let’s say we do produce the hydrogen. Then it has to be compressed as a gas to very high pressures and carried in a strong tank or liquefied to below -400° F and carried in a well-insulated tank. Both processes are energy intensive and perhaps dangerous. Do we use fuel cells? If so, they need a lot of work to be competitive in price with engines. How long would it take and how much would it cost to build the cars and the refueling infrastructure if we were to decide that hydrogen is ready for the big time?

More