- 26 Dec 2004 13:35
#538948
In my early days at PoFo, I stumbled into the Economics forum once and got roughed up considerably in a debate with leftists over world oil supplies and their effect on the economy. I quickly understood that I lacked sufficient understanding of energy science to participate in such discussions, so I extricated myself quickly.
I still lack scientific understanding, but would appreciate being educated (scientifically - not politically) by anyone who has knowledge of alcohol fuel technology, as an alternative to petroleum. I have done enough reading to understand that alcohol is superior in many ways to fossil fuels, and that a gradual conversion of gasoline engine technology to alcohol is not unreasonable. Also, being descended from several generations of farmers, the idea of creating more demand for farm products is attractive to me, and seems sensible, with the vast amounts of arable land that lies fallow in the US, and around the world, and with improved farming technology.
I assume that a conversion to alcohol fuel is still not economically or politically viable, but I am very curious as to how far away that viability actually is, and to what extent it could be speeded up with an infusion of taxpayer capital, should the public ever actually commit to the idea.
For example, if mass produced, as efficiently as possible with existing technology, what would a gallon of alcohol fuel likely cost now, and how soon could technology and mass production bring the price into line with that of fossil fuels? If an intelligent program could be devised that would offer incentives to business interests to make large investments, and guarantee loans for small business, how long would it take for a country with the resources of the US to shed its dependence on foreign oil, and keep its own reserves for machinery that does not lend itself to alcohol fuel conversion?
This is an honest inquiry, not intended to be any sort of political baiting, so please educate me. Let's discuss the science and economics before we descend into any sort of political one-upsmanship.
I still lack scientific understanding, but would appreciate being educated (scientifically - not politically) by anyone who has knowledge of alcohol fuel technology, as an alternative to petroleum. I have done enough reading to understand that alcohol is superior in many ways to fossil fuels, and that a gradual conversion of gasoline engine technology to alcohol is not unreasonable. Also, being descended from several generations of farmers, the idea of creating more demand for farm products is attractive to me, and seems sensible, with the vast amounts of arable land that lies fallow in the US, and around the world, and with improved farming technology.
I assume that a conversion to alcohol fuel is still not economically or politically viable, but I am very curious as to how far away that viability actually is, and to what extent it could be speeded up with an infusion of taxpayer capital, should the public ever actually commit to the idea.
For example, if mass produced, as efficiently as possible with existing technology, what would a gallon of alcohol fuel likely cost now, and how soon could technology and mass production bring the price into line with that of fossil fuels? If an intelligent program could be devised that would offer incentives to business interests to make large investments, and guarantee loans for small business, how long would it take for a country with the resources of the US to shed its dependence on foreign oil, and keep its own reserves for machinery that does not lend itself to alcohol fuel conversion?
This is an honest inquiry, not intended to be any sort of political baiting, so please educate me. Let's discuss the science and economics before we descend into any sort of political one-upsmanship.