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Title: Alternative fuels
Author: Peter Griffiths
Article:
<B>Alternatives to gasoline.</B>
Automotive manufacturers, environmental activists, governmental
organisations and the consumer are all concerned, in their own
way, about the future source of the fuel we put in our
vehicles.</p>
The oil producing nations, both inside and outside OPEC, have
become extremely wealthy because of the fortunate circumstance
of having vast amount of crude oil on their territories. The
companies who refine, transport and supply the finished products
to the end user have become global, super-rich money machines.
Governments have used the tax income from the consumer to
finance a large portion of their expenditure. The consumer has
become accustomed to the car and the convenience of owning one
or maybe more. Industry has become dependent, to a large extent,
upon motor transport for distribution.</p>
However several factors are now impinging on that happy circle
of satisfied suppliers and consumers and these factors are
forcing some serious discussion into the future direction of
transport in general and into fuel for the motorist in
particular.</p>
<B>Supply and cost of Crude Oil.</B>
The traditional oil producing areas such as the Middle East have
had it pretty easy with benign conditions for oil extraction.
The same could also be said for the early days of oil production
in the USA. The reserves were enormous and the conditions under
which the wells were drilled and the production and delivery
were established relatively cheaply.</p>
Surveyors and engineers found more huge reserves offshore, for
instance in the Gulf of Mexico and then in the North Sea. This
made for a different and more expensive engineering challenge.
The cost of establishing and operating these fields was that
much greater. However as the price of crude oil has increased it
has made it economically viable to extract these more difficult,
therefore more expensive, reserves.</p>
There is an interesting paradox represented by the fact that
although we are extracting oil at a greater and greater rate the
actual reserves are actually increasing as well. It should also
be understood that not all of the so-called reserves are
actually recoverable at this point in time.</p>
There are some vast reserves which would be very difficult to
extract and as a consequence very expensive. An example of this
would be the oil shale and sands of Canada. Whilst not denying
the size of the reserves, the energy demands of blasting,
transport, crushing, heating etc, together with the safe
disposal of huge quantities of waste material, are large, not to
say extremely expensive. </p>
However this sort of expense could be justified by the enhanced
price of crude oil on the world market. In other words these
reserves are not economically recoverable at this time, but may
become so if the price increases enough in the future.</p>
<B>Demand for Oil and oil products.</B>
The ultra-rapid growth of developing countries such as India and
China places huge pressures on the world supply of oil, as these
economies suck in enormous amounts of petroleum products. Their
governments are seeking increased prosperity for their
populations. The Indian and Chinese companies are growing very
fast because of their low labour rates are exporting at an
ever-increasing rate to the developed world and they will
continue to grow for the medium term at least. These countries
are looking to bring their standard of living up towards those
enjoyed by the USA and Europe and there is no way in which this
will be stopped. These vast countries and populations will be
tomorrow's consumers, and that means energy usage and
transportation.</p>
<B>Environmental concerns.</B>
The scientific thesis of global warming and climate change
cannot be denied. Or to be more specific - the evidence is
becoming overwhelming such that the theory cannot be denied.
This will have a major impact on everybody's life and
governments and commercial entities are both, to a certain
extent, preparing to make some changes. In particular as regards
the level of emissions from automobiles.</p>
<B>Combination effect</B>
When you add these three elements together you get a damning
combination; whereby oil is getting more expensive to extract
and less available, growth of demand among growing countries
will mean the law of supply and demand will fuel increased
prices and finally the environmental concerns of car emissions
will require that we all look at alternatives to petroleum
products to power our cars.</p>
About the author:
Peter Griffiths has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cardiff
University. He has been a Yachtsman and marathon runner. He is a
retired business owner and he is passionate, and researching
into, Energy Saving and the perils of Climate Change. You can
find out more at <a
href="http://www.savefuelsavemoney.co.uk/">www.savefuelsavemoney.
co.uk</a>
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