Originally Posted by Peter J
Originally Posted by Gambalunga
The alternative to Hydrogen Fuel Cells may just be to use a fuel already in use smile wine
https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-resear...ew-alternative-to-power-cars-technology/


I like that... but Ethanol is still a hydrocarbon, so in a fuel cell what happens to the carbon? Released as carbon dioxide I guess.
Yes, ethanol from fermentation is "new" carbon, so we are not burning fossil fuel.
And Ethanol works quite well in an ICE, it has a very high octane value and so it great in high compression racing engines.
Brazil has produced tonnes of it and 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline is available as E85 in the UK from Sunoco, at £4.16/litre....

Fuel from plants, such as so called biodiesel and alcohol are not 100 % carbon neutral when used in ICE as there is some oil consumption, all be it small amounts, in piston blowby etc. The other problem is NOx, another gas which contributes to polution and greenhouse effect, but that can be dealt with with effective exhaust catalytic converters and "add blu" injection.
The problem with biofuels is the use of land, and deforestation, to produce crops for converting to fuel. The benefit is that since growing plants use CO2 from the atmosphere and burning plant products puts it back into the atmosphere it is relatively carbon neutral.

I'm not going to volunteer to jump off the planet but the issue is always that there are just too many of us, and the situation is not going to get better. Have a look at https://www.worldometers.info/ and the "Net population growth this year". Until we start reducing world population and returning from a world economy to local production, thereby reducing transport needs, the situation is not really going to improve.

Peter

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