What if oil ran out?

[Zach Williams]

What would happen to our engines if the world ran out of petroleum and natural gas?

Of course cars could be easily converted over, since they still make them, but engines?

Maybe we could run them on hydrogen? Or will they just sit and collect dust in 50 years or so?

Any ideas or opinions, because its going to happen sooner or later.

Just something to think about.

Zach
Our Engine Site

[Mac Leod]

Methane...swamp gas will not be too likely to ever run out

Mac Leod

[Harvey Teal]

Right now IC engines can run on gasified wood. Been there, done that. Messy but it works. Hydrogen works fine in IC's too, but storage can be a problem. Best to generate the Hydrogen onboard. Big Brother is pushing developments in Hydrogen. This will be the vehicle fuel of the future. For vehicle propulsion however, the days of the 30 percent efficient IC engine will be coming to an end. Unless you are very wealthy.

[Patrick Marsh]

I would run my engines and tractors on alcohol. Anything that grows can be distilled. You have to try and not drink what you distilled LOL.

[Kevin O. Pulver]

Maybe by the time oil runs out we will have technology to run cars with on-board nuclear reactors. Long live steam! Of course then they will tax water. Just remember, as long as there are McDonalds french fries- there will be oil!Kevin

I don't believe that will ever happen. The oil shortage is a myth. Its not that there is not enough crude in the earth, the problem is that we cannot refine it fast enough to meet demand due to government regulations and EPA standards. Plus we could make fuel from soybeans and cow S*#@ all day long, we just don't do it much now because the big oil companies don't have much interest, go figure! While were at it- Heres another scenerio to worry about, What happens when the EPA decides that our engines need to meet clean air standards! Anybody got a catilytic converter for my 1912 Famous?

[Dick Welty]

Something that the oil companies and the government don't tell you is that We have the worlds largest known coal reserves, most of which are in the central western states like Colorado. Much of this coal is on federal land.

This coal is Bituminous and subbituminous,d while it dosn't have quite as high an energy content as Anthricite but it has practically no sulfer, making it very clean.

Our government needs to open up our own oil and coal reserves to bring down our dependance on forign oil. After all it is our land.

The enviornmentalists like all other socialists pressure groups hate the US and our free capitalist system and always seek to stiffel our economy.

No I don't work for the coal companies. See Link.

http://www.manhattanproject.us/coal.htm

I just found this link and haven't read it all. Dick

[Zach Williams]

Very interesting,

Well looks like our engines will be safe for a while longer.

Zach

[Dick Welty]

I just read another web site that stated that during WWII Germany was producing 185,000,000 gallons of liquid petrolium from coal by 1944 using the Fischer-Tropsch Process.

After the war many nations studied the process but did not put it into practice due to the low cost of crude oil. Several dollars a barrel.

Now with oil at around $50.00 a barrel I am sure that they could make coal conversion economically feasable if they wanted to.

With so much clean burning coal in some of the central western states like Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Montana there is no reason that Utility Companies shouldn't build power plants at the source of these Coal fields and ship the energy through High tension transmission lines to the states that need that power.

This would free up the natural gas and oil that is being used in power plants on both coasts.

Natural gas can also be converted to liquid fuel.

We are now producing nearly 25% of our energy consumption from coal.

At the present rate it will take 2000 years to consume the known US coal reserves. If we used coal for all of our energy needs at the current rate it would take 500 years to use up all of the curently known coal reserves.

This is like what the US Park Department says about preserving the National Parks for some future Generation. If this Generation that is paying to buy up all of this forrest land to put into the National Park System can't use it what makes you think some future generation will be able to use it?

In the US the Citie, County, State and Federal Governments own more land than all of the rest of us put together, Yet the Socialists in our midst want control everything we do with our own property and still refuse to do anything with Public property that could possibly do the public any good.

No I'm not running for public office.

Dick

[Ben Laughlin]

For about 15.00 you can get a permit to legally distill alcohol for use as a motor fuel. This came about after the oil embargo. I have a really nice still. Getting it operating is on my "to do" list. Legally of course!

[PaulGray]

Try typing "Peak Oil" into any of the search engines..basically we are at a point where we have used up half of all the worlds oil.. Right now the rate of discovery is being way outpaced by demand. Look at china and rest of third world gobbling up oil also. Problem is the demand is growing exponentially and the supply, a la known reserves is dwindling. There are a lot of lower grade reserves, but they require a lot of secondary processing to reduce sulphur and other impurities. It ain't rocket science- it is a finger-and-toes exercise. Clean coal? We have the technology to burn coal cleanly using fluid bed combustion but it also is more expensive than the status quo of using nat gas- so we use nat gas till the price rises too high. Why do you think the big companies like GE are investing heavily in photovoltaics and wind power?

[Dick Welty]

I just read another web site that stated that during WWII Germany was producing 185,000,000 gallons of liquid petrolium from coal by 1944 using the Fischer-Tropsch Process.

After the war many nations studied the process but did not put it into practice due to the low cost of crude oil. Several dollars a barrel.

Now with oil at around $50.00 a barrel I am sure that they could make coal conversion economically feasable if they wanted to.

With so much clean burning coal in some of the central western states like Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Montana there is no reason that Utility Companies shouldn't build power plants at the source of these Coal fields and ship the energy through High tension transmission lines (better than transporting the coal) to the states that need that power.

This would free up the natural gas and oil that is being used in power plants on both coasts.

Natural gas can also be converted to liquid fuel.

We are now producing nearly 25% of our energy consumption from coal.

At the present rate it will take 2000 years to consume the known US coal reserves. If we used coal for all of our energy needs at the current rate it would take 500 years to use up all of the curently known coal reserves.

We currently don't look very hard for additional reserves in the US because we allready have so much in reserve.

Keeping so much energy in reserve for the future is redicules when we are paying many of our enemies for their energy giving them the finances to attack us at home.

This is like what the US Park Department says about preserving the National Parks for some future Generation. If this Generation that is paying to buy up all of this forrest land to put into the National Park System can't use it, what makes you think some future generation will be able to use it?

In the US the City, County, State and Federal Governments own more land than all of the rest of us put together, Yet the Socialists in our midst want to buy more and control everything we do with our own property. And the Federal Government buckles to environmentalists pressure groups by refusing to do anything with Public land that could possibly do the public any good.

I am for protecting the environment. We have made some mistakes in the past and should learn from those mistakes. However all of this false science that is being floated to scare the public into forfeiting our private and public land rights needs to stop.

No I'm not running for public office.

Dick

[Zach Williams]

As for public lands I agree with Dick.

Its ridiculous that the government owns so much land yet does very little.

Most environmental groups are extremists. I don't think people realize that the purpose of a nationa forest is just that, a forest for the production of timber for the nation! They even do environmental impact studies of areas before they even do anything.

There are also plenty of old oil and gas wells here in West Virginia, most could probably be reworked. Just like most old gas wells now have pressure on them, after not being tapped for so long.

Considering i'm in west virginia looks like i need to build my own coal to oil production facility and rake in the big bucks!

Zach

[William]

I know I can’t prove this, but I do believe we have the technology now to drive our cars and heat our houses from the sun’s energy. I know we can make lots of fuel from grain in the form of alcohol. And this is a renewable energy source. But the sad part is that the large oil companies rule the world, and they want us to stay depended on them. The oil companies have tried to put negative thoughts in our minds about alcohol as a fuel. But the truth is, there are more positives about alcohol than negatives.

William

[Larry Rusch]

Did I hear anyone say "vegetable oil"?

[Robt.]

Yup, that's what I'm going to run my Lister diesel generator on, not to mention my diesel truck. "Biodiesel" Google and ye shall find...