Oh Dear – Cars running on liquid from coal?
Electric cars have been getting a lot of news lately, but in many parts of the world, and especially Australia, electricity is made from coal and an electric car actually emits more greenhouse gas than a petrol one. Now they are suggesting making liquid fuel from coal. They have developed a new method to do this cheaply but it is still environmentally unfriendly fuel
If oil prices rise again, there could be a push to use this coal-derived fuel could produce as much as twice as much CO2 as traditional petroleum fuels and at very best could be best will emit at least as much of the greenhouse gas.
The list of contenders to replace oil is long and diverse. Alternative fuels could include next-gen ethanol, algal biofuel, hydrogen and natural gas, or cars could go largely electric if there is sustainable power generation..
But the problem with all the new fuels is that they have to scale up — and that’s harder than it sounds. Plus, many fear that biofuels could cause massive, negative land-use changes.
It is insanity to turn food into biofuel for cars and then watch people starve.
I like the option of growing algae on sewage ponds because one resource that is not diminishing is shit if you will excuse the term.
Improving a fossil-fuel technology could slow the adoption of other, more sustainable transportation options.
Technorati Tags: algal biofuel, biofuel, coal, coal-devived fuel, electric cars, electricity, ethanol
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