Cheap Petrol to become reality?

Wetbench4

http://www.gizmag.com/breakthrough-promises-150-per-gallon-synthetic-gasoline-with-no-carbon-emissions/17687/

Found this while stumbling and I really hope its true. No emissions and no engine mods needed.

Zaph

$1.50 a gallon, which with government duty here will probably bring it up to about a tenner a litre.

Turtyturd

I aint read the article but do you believe cheap petrol is ever gonna be a reality in a country where the government is about to send a litre over the 1.50 mark?

TeddyTedson

I bet we won't see it in the next 40 years

Wetbench4

If something like this goes on the market, i bet it won't be long before normal petrol would be banned or restricted.

Senna

Its the duty and tax that make petrol dear, they just add those to any new fuels and we'll pay the same.

drunkmonkey

New Government on the Way, this could be a runner...

Sanjuro

This will never happen with out massive interference from big oil. Either they'll take any and every opportunity to block it, or they'll end up in control of it and charge massive prices for it. Lack of access to petrol isn't the problem. The people with the access and control of it are.

admiralofthefleet

remember petrol wont last forever, its going to get more expensive rather than get cheaper

Unpossible

There are no carbon emissions, but what exactly will the emissions from burning this fuel be composed of?
What materials appart from hydrogen are being used and how renewable/plentiful are they?
"No carbon at the point of use" brings up the question, what goes into making it and what emissions/waste will be produced by its manufacture?

Would be great if it does turn out to be a cheap, clean, easily made and renewable source of energy.

mikom

Wetbench4 wrote: »

http://www.gizmag.com/breakthrough-promises-150-per-gallon-synthetic-gasoline-with-no-carbon-emissions/17687/

Found this while stumbling and I really hope its true. No emissions and no engine mods needed.

Meanwhile in Saudi, an assassin boards a plane bound for the UK.

Sea Sharp

Can it be produced on a large scale?
How much energy is needed to manufacture it?

If it's as good as the article claims, it'll be widely used in 10 years time I reckon, articles making claims such as this usually need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Senna

Unpossible wrote: »

Would be great if it does turn out to be a cheap, clean, easily made and renewable source of energy.

i couldn't really give a feck if its clean or not, as long as it ticks the rest of the boxes.

Agricola

Sounds great, but is sort of meaningless when equated to small countries like Ireland. Govt duty on fuel is such an easy money spinner, I could'nt see a situation where a cheap alternative would be viable.

Unpossible

Senna wrote: »

i couldn't really give a feck if its clean or not, as long as it ticks the rest of the boxes.

So if its manufacture or use results in lots of toxic waste/fumes then its a-ok with you as long as its cheap easily made and renewable?


It would be great if we (Ireland) could start inventing or producing alternative energy/fuel solutions such as this.

Kerikosan

I heard on the radio 2/3 of petrol's cost is tax!

Tar.Aldarion

would they not keep it just below the cost of real petrol etc

Lumen

Forget about it. Crap article.

The fuel comes from hydrogen (or is hydrogen, depending how you look at it). Hydrogen comes from fossil fuels, at least until you have an unbelievably cheap and abundant source of electricity.

Therefore, I'd guess that more fossil fuels are used than in your current car. I have no idea how they project the costs as so low, but I'd want a more authoritative source than "gizmag".

The selling point is purely "zero carbon emissions at point of use".

Helix

Agricola wrote: »

Sounds great, but is sort of meaningless when equated to small countries like Ireland. Govt duty on fuel is such an easy money spinner, I could'nt see a situation where a cheap alternative would be viable.

well look at it this way, if it costs $1.50 for 4.5 litres, give or take, instead of €1.30 for one, then even if the government doubled the tax on the product they'd make twice as much and the consumer would pay less

Helix

Lumen wrote: »

Hydrogen comes from fossil fuels, at least until you have an unbelievably cheap and abundant source of electricity.

hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it certainly doesnt "come from fossil fuels"

The Hill Billy

Senna wrote: »

Its the duty and tax that make petrol dear

Actually, it's the aliphatic hydrocarbons enhanced with iso-octane that make petrol, dear.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Helix wrote: »

hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it certainly doesnt "come from fossil fuels"

It doesn't exist in an elemental (pure) state naturally on Earth so we need to use energy from other sources to liberate it.

Sean_K

Sean_K wrote: »

It doesn't exist in an elemental (pure) state naturally on Earth so we need to use energy from other sources to liberate it.

Something needs to be liberated?!
Send in the USA!!!

Lumen

Helix wrote: »

hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it certainly doesnt "come from fossil fuels"

Do some research on hydrogen production. Honestly, it's quite interesting.

Big Nasty

Jeffrey Spasmo created the hydrogen engine in the 80's but was killed by the American automotive company that made the Crappy. :D:pac:

Genghiz Cohen

Lumen wrote: »

Do some research on hydrogen production. Honestly, it's quite interesting.

Windvane/Hydroelectric Dam/Solar Panel + Voltameter.
Bish.
Bash.
Bosh.

Lumen

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Windvane/Hydroelectric Dam/Solar Panel + Voltameter.

Yeah, and for your next trick you can build a hydroelectric dam without concrete using only a solar powered electric digger and battery operated machine tools.

sipstrassi

More information here than on the article:

http://www.cellaenergy.com/index.php?page=technology

sbsquarepants

At this stage i'd happily run my car on liquidised puppies if they sold it for €1.50 a gallon!
Can't see it ever happening though, if it did come to pass shell or bp or whoever would just buy it up and then it's business as normal!
The whole supply and demand model joesnt doesn't work for oil. When have you ever not been able to buy petrol/diesel/home heating oil etc?
I've never known an oil shortage, i've often been told there's a shortage and therfore i have to pay more but i could ALWAYS buy any amount i wanted, how is that a shortage? Even during the gulf wars when half the oil wells were on fire, there was still no shortage! It's a con job and it makes way too much money to ever be let go tits up!

Lumen

sipstrassi wrote: »

More information here than on the article:

http://www.cellaenergy.com/index.php?page=technology

Interesting.

6% hydrogen by weight. 143 MJ/kg becomes 8.6 MJ/kg.

Petrol is 46.4 MJ/kg.

So, you need 270kg of the stuff to have the same energy potential as 50kg of petrol.

And when you've run out of fuel, you've still got 254kg of waste beads to get out of the vehicle and be recycled.

whitesands

Lumen wrote: »

Forget about it. Crap article.

The fuel comes from hydrogen (or is hydrogen, depending how you look at it). Hydrogen comes from fossil fuels, at least until you have an unbelievably cheap and abundant source of electricity.

Therefore, I'd guess that more fossil fuels are used than in your current car. I have no idea how they project the costs as so low, but I'd want a more authoritative source than "gizmag".

The selling point is purely "zero carbon emissions at point of use".

Lumen is bang on, the article gives no EROEI, their website gives none either.

Making hydrogen consumes more energy than it creates!
Unless the company is getting free money or energy, they are wasting their time.

There is absolutely nothing renewable about hydrogen.

The article is looking for suckers to invest, nothing more...

iPlop

Anything that is a day to day necessity will always be taxed to the hilt by any government.If this synthetic petrol cost 2 cent per litre to manufacture ,you can be sure the government would have it 5 cent cheaper than ordinary petrol.

Anything that's seen as essential always and always will be taxed to the max