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New Choices, More Confusion - The Fuel Dilemma |
Fossil fuels are now an endangered species. Oil running out is no longer a possibility but a definite event which will happen sometime in mankind's future. That is much closer than you think.
We have to be thankful that there are people trying to avert the crisis by searching for alternative means for supporting our need of fuel. So far, these people have come up with a variety of fuel alternative solutions.
Using nitrogen for fuel isn't really a new discovery. Nitrogen has been in use for a long time now. The debate about nitrogen centers on its by-product which, according to some scientists, if broken down to its natural state, is harmful to the environment. Commendable really but everytime something dies, it releases carbon into the air. A tree, kelp from the sea, mammals, you name it. The use of nitrogen as a main fuel source is gaining momentum in Japan. It seems the rest of the world is sleeping.
Engines using ethanol - gasoline mixture as fuel have also been developed. This is not going to go far though since the object we are trying to replace is still in there. Secondly, you have to burn ethanol more times to produces an equal amount of power which gasoline gives out. If we go with ethanol, cars of the future would have to accomodate bigger gas tanks.
Electric power is ideal to use as a form of fuel for the auto. You can plug it in anywhere. You can have dynamos built into the wheels to partially recharge the batteries while the car is in motion. It isn't noisy and it does not pollute the air with smoke. When electric powered vehicles came out, it generated a wave of awe in the motoring world. That awe was sadly misplaced. Decades after its discovery, the ultimate electric powered vehicle still has to come out of the drawing board. Batteries with a large enough capacity to store enough electricty for the car have not been perfected.
Last but not least, the most cost effective alternate power supply, the human body. We have invented several other means of transportation although most of them are mainly used for sports and recreation. Take the bycicle as an example. There were skates back in the 70's and 80's which evolved into roller blades and also skateboards and scooters. In winter, we have skis. If humanity elects to ban the use of powered vehicles altogether, we still have a lot of alternative means for transport. We just have to figure out flying. To read more articles by Tony Robinson, check out http://large-size-shopping.com. |