Making Gasoline a Renewable Fuel?!?

Would you be willing to pay $4 per gallon if this process was used?

  • Yes

    Votes: 11 52.4%

  • No

    Votes: 9 42.9%

  • Not Sure

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • Total voters
    21

Red1530

    • 1,669
    Posts
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    I read in this months Popular Science article called "10 Audacious Ideas to Save the Planet". In it the third idea caught my attention. That idea uses the carbon dioxide in the air and hydrogen to make a number of conventional fuels including gasoline. However the because of the current cost of the technology, the price of gas would have to stay above $4 per gallon to be economical.

    Source: https://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-06/10-audacious-ideas-save-planet?page=2
     
    This is a topic that seems more suited for Other Chat, so I'll just go ahead and move it there.

    ~Moved
     
    I've yet to figure out how much both four US dollars and a gallon of fuel are worth... Well, I wouldn't pay anyway, since I'd rather just ride a bicycle instead.
     
    We're already paying almost 4$ a gallon anyway, so why not?
     
    I wouldn't, mostly because even though gasoline would be renewable, the effects of burning fossil fuels would still hurt the environment.
     
    DarkKnight541 said:
    I wouldn't, mostly because even though gasoline would be renewable, the effects of burning fossil fuels would still hurt the environment.
    Click to expand...

    That's a good point, but if it became a renewable resource, then we'd most likely curtail future drilling, therefore helping the environment. Desperate humans can do very stupid things.
     
    Kratos_Aurion88 said:
    Actually the emmisions from the fuel would still be a factor..,
    Click to expand...

    Yes, if my chemistry is right, then the one of the products from the combustion will always be CO2, which harms the atmosphere if there's enogh in it.
     
    Psh, I already pay four dollars a gallon for gas; if this new one helps the environment, I'll be more than willing to continually pay that particular amount. Even though it'll still probably harm the environment somewhat, with everybody in the world using it, a difference could be made.

    It's easier said than done, though.
     
    DarkKnight541 said:
    Yes, if my chemistry is right, then the one of the products from the combustion will always be CO2, which harms the atmosphere if there's enogh in it.
    Click to expand...
    Which could be recycled once more right? But the issue then is what do with the other products of gasoline combustion, since it isn't a chemical that burns with 100% efficiency (at least in car engines iirc), so consequently there are other chemicals that will float about in our atmosphere.

    Ethanol should really be considered as viable fuel source though, since it burns much cleaner and is renewable. The only issue would be how to produce it :/
     
    Amachi said:
    Which could be recycled once more right? But the issue then is what do with the other products of gasoline combustion, since it isn't a chemical that burns with 100% efficiency (at least in car engines iirc), so consequently there are other chemicals that will float about in our atmosphere.

    Ethanol should really be considered as viable fuel source though, since it burns much cleaner and is renewable. The only issue would be how to produce it :/
    Click to expand...

    I've got to disagree with you in someways on the ethanol issue. I currently don't agree with it because of the negative impact is has on the economy, now correct me if I'm wrong, but because corn is a major ingredient in ethanol, many farmers are now switching to producing corn for the 'cash crop' aspect rather than consumer goods such as wheat, which causes products with wheat in it to rise in price. Now I do note ethanol is definitely better for the enviroment and would be a good option for keeping gas prices down if the government finds someway to regulate the production of corn so that the prices of wheat based products amoung others stays down.

    Hopefully that made some sense to someone. I always feel as though I'm rambling. Oh well.
     
    ...and these gas prices aren't negatively impacting the economy? Would you rather pay a quarter more for bread or a dollar more for gasoline?
     
    I'm not sure how the exchange rate works exactly here, but here in England we pay £10 for about 10 litres i think? Something like that, I think that is a gallon right?

    Anyway, I would like to see vehicles that run off water, since this is a reproductable element which would be clean and efficient if used to its most effective measure. It's either that or we should all ride Flinstone carts and use our legs to move around.
     
    crocadilius said:
    I'm not sure how the exchange rate works exactly here, but here in England we pay £10 for about 10 litres i think? Something like that, I think that is a gallon right?

    Anyway, I would like to see vehicles that run off water, since this is a reproductable element which would be clean and efficient if used to its most effective measure. It's either that or we should all ride Flinstone carts and use our legs to move around.
    Click to expand...

    Actually 1 U.S. Gallon of gas is equivilent to 3.785 litres in the UK. and if we look at today's exchange rate: (Wednesday, June 18, 2008) 4 US Dollar(s) = 2.5836 Euro(s) It looks roughly like you are paying more,but My math may be off.

    either way I'd much rather be driving along in a hydrogen hybrid car which produces only water as emmisions. the only thing stopping this course is the fact that there would have to be a lot of new Hydrogen stations built around to grab Hydrogen from the air.
     
    Gerri said:
    Actually 1 U.S. Gallon of gas is equivilent to 3.785 litres in the UK. and if we look at today's exchange rate: (Wednesday, June 18, 2008) 4 US Dollar(s) = 2.5836 Euro(s) It looks roughly like you are paying more,but My math may be off.
    Click to expand...
    First you'd best take another look at our currency, it's pounds and pence, not euros and cents. The petrol and diesel prices here fall anywhere between £1.05 to £1.99 per litre from what I've seen. $4 is definitely worth more than £1.50.
     
    Wow! This is a really cool topic!

    In respect for the the thread, I would say that I would definitely pay $4 a gallon for gasoline if technology became available to make it renewable. However, I doubt it would cost so little an amount of money. The process would no doubt be elaborate, as the broken-down components of spent gasoline would first have to be collected and re-combined (which is possible, mind you). This would require enormous amounts of energy, as the amount of energy needed to re-combine the components of the gasoline would have to equal the amount of energy released as the gasoline burns.

    To give you an idea of how much energy that actually is, think of it this way: our current combustion engines are at best about 30% efficient in the use of fuel. That means only three-tenths of the energy created in the burning of the gas goes into moving the car. The rest is lost mostly to heat and friction in the moving parts of the car. Now: cars can get along pretty well on that measly 30%: imagine what they could do if engines were 80 or 90% efficient. That same amount of energy would be necessary to remake the spent fuel.

    So it's a great idea, but it's a bit impractical. It would just be too elaborate and expensive a project to try to reclaim fuel. I think the better direction to go would be to create more efficient engines to fully harness the energy of the fuel. I'm a bit biased though, as I'm going to be a Mechanical Engineer once I graduate from college ^^
     
    The CO2 from the burning of the gas would be colected the same way it was original created. So it would not so difficult to keep recylcing the CO2.
     
    I believe the easiest way to find a fuel for cars and such to help the environment would be Hydrogen fuel cells. I'm not sure how far off the technology is for it becoming a staple in car design, but I believe that it is the responsibility of the world's major car manufacture companies to full fund their R&D departments into undertaking the research to make it possible. All that would come out of the exhaust would be water, and it is a much more efficient and hassle-free method than using electric motors.
     
    Silver said:
    I've got to disagree with you in someways on the ethanol issue. I currently don't agree with it because of the negative impact is has on the economy, now correct me if I'm wrong, but because corn is a major ingredient in ethanol, many farmers are now switching to producing corn for the 'cash crop' aspect rather than consumer goods such as wheat, which causes products with wheat in it to rise in price. Now I do note ethanol is definitely better for the enviroment and would be a good option for keeping gas prices down if the government finds someway to regulate the production of corn so that the prices of wheat based products amoung others stays down.

    Hopefully that made some sense to someone. I always feel as though I'm rambling. Oh well.
    Click to expand...
    That makes perfect sence. A Failproof way, would be to use hydrogen cars, which wont affect other stuff much. The only thing would be that the Cars themselves would be very expensive and research on these cars are little.
     
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