As much as the using coal to make fuel sounds good and is
drawing the interest of a lot here it is the wrong approach.
Coal is also a limited resource, just as oil and natural gas
are. Between the converting the coal to oil and the burning
of that oil product only adds to the global warming process
as well as pumps more pollutant into our air.
There is an option and it is far better. It is not Hydrogen
either. This option was pointed out in a comment by
RParker in a comment on the thread regarding
the subject. However it appears no one picked up on it hardly.
I can remember when research on this idea started years back
but I had completely forgotten about it until he mentioned it
and provided a link to one of the studies that is being done.
Simply put it is converting Algae into biodiesel and it can
be done on the scale needed to replace our dependence on oil
and also can be done with none or very little negative effect
on our environment. Can be done at far less cost than the $$
spent on import of oil now.
From the study I quote a little from
Michael Briggs, University of New Hampshire,
While the so-called "hydrogen economy" receives a lot of
attention in the media, there are several very serious
problems with using hydrogen as an automotive fuel.
For automobiles, the best alternative at present is clearly
biodiesel, a fuel that can be used in existing diesel engines
with no changes, and is made from vegetable oils or animal
fats rather than petroleum.
snip
Now we already know that biodiesel can be mixed with
diesel and used in our present internal combustion
engines. We also know that the same engine will run
on 100% biodiesel. So to explain that a little further
to give you the benefits of this I quote more from
Michael Briggs.
One of the biggest advantages of biodiesel compared to
many other alternative transportation fuels is that it can
be used in existing diesel engines without modification,
and can be blended in at any ratio with petroleum diesel.
This completely eliminates the "chicken-and-egg" dilemma
that other alternatives have, such as hydrogen powered fuel
cells. For hydrogen vehicles, even when (and if) vehicle
manufacturers eventually have production stage vehicles ready
(which currently cost around $1 million each to make), nobody
would buy them unless there was already a wide scale hydrogen
fuel production and distribution system in place.
snip
And further
With biodiesel, since the same engines can run on conventional
petroleum diesel, manufacturers can comfortably produce diesel
vehicles before biodiesel is available on a wide scale - as some
manufacturers already are (the same can be said for flex-fuel
vehicles capable of running on ethanol, gasoline, or any blend
of the two). As biodiesel production continues to ramp up, it
can go into the same fuel distribution infrastructure, just
replacing petroleum diesel either wholly (as B100, or 100%
biodiesel), or blended in with diesel. Not only does this
eliminate the chicken-and-egg problem, making biodiesel a much
more feasible alternative than hydrogen, but also eliminates
the huge cost of revamping the nationwide fuel distribution
infrastructure.
So what would this require in order to be a viable alternative?
We would have to phase out the Gas engines and replace with
diesel engines. This can be done over a period of time which
would eventually result in not depending on internet gas engines
therefore not depending on oil at all for transportation.
It would also require the production of the Algae, which is a
very fast growing source of stock for the conversion into biodiesel.
It would also require the plants that does the conversion.
To shed a little more light I quote further from the study.
Some species of algae are ideally suited to biodiesel production
due to their high oil content (some well over 50% oil), and
extremely fast growth rates.
Snip
And further
There are two steps that would need to be taken for producing
biodiesel on a large scale - growing the feedstocks, and
processing them into biodiesel. The main issue that is often
contested is whether or not we would be able to grow enough
crops to provide the vegetable oil (feedstock) for producing
the amount of biodiesel that would be required to completely
replace petroleum as a transportation fuel.
snip
The study goes into the part about how producing
the amount of Algae that would be required to
replace our dependence on oil and gas. It is
suprisingly much less complicated than one may
think.
If you are at all interested in an alternative that can and
would work while placing little or no strain on our planet
you really should read this report.>
The study at the University is a very comprehensive one and
delves into all aspects of the situation.
So why havent we seen anything on this in the media or
from our government? Simply, I believe, because big oil
and our elected officials have not yet seen a way to
personally benefit their campaign war chest or what ever.
Do yourself a favor and read the report on the study.
Just go through the link above.
It is a fairly long report, but I can assure you I found
it of the upmost interest and only wish we could find a way
to get those in power to pay some attention to it.