Alternate fuels - the two problems

(Reply to a question on hydrogen)

There are two problems for any fuel attempting to replace oil. One is the production of the fuel and new processes may provide some hope (although we are badly limited by time - we really need something up and running within the next decade).

The other problem though is implementing the fuel. In Britain, for instance, we have 33 million vehicles, virtually all using petrol or diesel. If we switch to another fuel, all of those vehicles will have to be adapted or replaced. Since the internal combustion engine cannot be adapted to hydrogen, that would mean eventually replacing every one of them. The cost (in money for the economy and people, and energy for society) would be prohibitive. And that is without considering the infrastructure needed to create and transfer the hydrogen/fuel cells.

Other fuels have their advantages and disadvantages. With biofuels, diesel engines could be easily adapted to use them and the infrastructure would need little work, although the problems of producing the biofuels create many problems for food and climate change.

Electricity has the advantage that we already have much of the infrastructure with power sockets in every house and garage. But few engines can use electricity so we would have to replace millions of engines.

In the end, I cannot see any feasible replacement for oil as transport. We will simply have to travel less and use public transport more. But hydrogen may have a good future as a "battery", storing the output from renewables for use at other times. It is still a good area to be working in but we must be reasonable with our expectations.