In article ,
Quadibloc wrote:
On Jan 21, 12:22*pm, Sam Wormley wrote:

Incidentally, while I knew we could continue having a vibrant economy
with abundant energy through nuclear power, including breeder and
thorium breeder reactors, I was concerned that not _all_ of our energy
needs could be met this way, as electric cars or hydrogen-fuelled cars
presented challenges.

But then I thought of how Robert Zubrin mentioned an old chemical
process to use hydrogen to make an alternative fuel with more reaction
mass from the carbon dioxide on Mars. As I recalled, though, he was
making carbon monoxide, which wasn't too obviously useful. But when I
did a Google search, I found the Wikipedia article on the Sabatier
process, and normally it made methane. And methane is widely used in
motor vehicles - although it has the bulky tank problem too, just to a
lesser degree than hydrogen.

What is wrong with ethanol?

As an energy carrier, not as an energy source.

It can more or less replace the gasoline we use today, at a 1/3 reduction
in energy density. We must use a process where the energy comes from some
grid, not from the soil; so we just add energy to ferment some biomass
that is leftover from agriculture, or from forests. NOT grown for food.

Well, then, I thought I'd take a look at Fischer-Tropsch again. I
didn't think that would be useful - it was a way to utilize coal, a
more abundant fossil fuel, and so that would hardly solve the
greenhouse gas problem. But the Wikipedia article surprised me again -
it turned out it worked by reacting carbon monoxide with hydrogen.

So apparently there is no need to despair. We already have all the
technology we need to keep on enjoying our present lifestyle - with
maybe a little extra effort expended to obtain the energy we use -
with a zero carbon footprint. We don't even need to replace our cars.

And the Peak Oil event is already upon us. It just increased the price
of the stuff. This will go on for the next few centuries.

Now even coal prices are climbing.

Until we get the Nuclear generators going, that is.

-- mrr