[V8] Why you stick a V8....

[dsaad at icehouse.net]

Agreed on internal combustion engines not going away anytime soon -
But any solution that burns fossil fuel from any source is a dead end. The
simple fact is that if oil were as plentiful as ocean water, we will still run
out - or at least we would if we were still alive as a species because the
atmosphere can not take that much pollution.
I think a better use for fossil oil in all its forms is for manufacturing all
the things made from it, as lubricants, etc. It could last a very long time if
we wern't burning it up as motor fuel.

Much as I hate to back nuclear (for safety reasons), I think the only viable
long term solution is to generate hydrogen directly from nuke plants. From there
we can pretty much use our present infrastructure system to transport liquid
fuel for end use much as we do now. The actual engines can be converted piston
engines, turbines, fuel cells, or who knows.
I recently met a very smart engineer from the INEEL (Big nuke research lab here
in ID) whose job is to design the fuel for the next generation of reactors. He
painted a pretty rosy picture of what is in the pipe - but they are still many
years away. (incedently, we borrow heavily from the French for this technology)
I just wish we were pouring a billion dollars a day into this research instead
of dumping it on Iraq.

Dave

Quoting urq <urq at pacbell.net>:

> ... IMO there's too much investment in internal combustion technology for it
> to go away ... perhaps your car will run on Hydrogen in 30 years ... I don't
> know, but I'm not going to bemoan the demise of my cars too soon.  Everyone
> is so focused on oil ... there are so many other possibilities ... alcohol
> in some form, bio diesel ... I even hear that the USA might well become the
> next middle east as prices per barrel of oil go high enough to make coal
> liquefaction competitive (and there are other coal producing areas outside
> the middle east around the world).  Here's an article:
>
>     http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=6013
>
> ... I'm still a bit hesitant to plunk down $30K for a car myself, but it is
> all based on total costs and ROI ... That said, when my lotto ticket pays
> off I'm going right down to my Ford dealer!  :-)
>
> Steve B
> San Jose, CA (USA)
>
> > I have a hard time even thinking about spending $30+K on a new car, only
> > to have
> > the fuel become next to impossible to get before the warranty runs out.
> > There are more than just a few sane and knowledgable people who say we are
> > at
> > peak oil right now.
> > Add China and the rest of the developing world to the consumption pie and
> > you
> > (we) have a problem.
> > If the bonehead in chief succedes in starting a nuclear war in Iran, we
> > may be
> > going back to burning cow chips for steam anyway.
>
>
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