Alternatives to Gasoline
- By:Peter Griffiths
Alternatives to gasoline. Automotive manufacturers, environmental activists,governmental organisations and the consumer are all concerned, intheir own way, about the future source of the fuel we put in ourvehicles.The oil producing nations, both inside and outside OPEC, havebecome extremely wealthy because of the fortunate circumstance ofhaving vast amount of crude oil on their territories. The companies who refine, transport and supply the finished productsto the end user have become global, super-rich money machines.Governments have used the tax income from the consumer to financea large portion of their expenditure. The consumer has becomeaccustomed to the car and the convenience of owning one or maybemore. Industry has become dependent, to a large extent, uponmotor transport for distribution.However several factors are now impinging on that happy circleof satisfied suppliers and consumers and these factors areforcing some serious discussion into the future direction oftransport in general and into fuel for the motorist in particular.
Supply and cost of Crude Oil.
The traditional oil producing areas such as the Middle Easthave had it pretty easy with benign conditions for oilextraction. The same could also be said for the early days of oilproduction in the USA. The reserves were enormous and theconditions under which the wells were drilled and the productionand delivery were established relatively cheaply.Surveyors and engineers found more huge reserves offshore, forinstance in the Gulf of Mexico and then in the North Sea. Thismade for a different and more expensive engineering challenge.The cost of establishing and operating these fields was that muchgreater. However as the price of crude oil has increased it hasmade it economically viable to extract these more difficult,therefore more expensive, reserves.There is an interesting paradox represented by the fact thatalthough we are extracting oil at a greater and greater rate theactual reserves are actually increasing as well. It should alsobe understood that not all of the so-called reserves are actually recoverable at this point in time.There are some vast reserves which would be very difficult toextract and as a consequence very expensive. An example of thiswould be the oil shale and sands of Canada. Whilst not denyingthe size of the reserves, the energy demands of blasting,transport, crushing, heating etc, together with the safe disposalof huge quantities of waste material, are large, not to sayextremely expensive.However this sort of expense could be justified by theenhanced price of crude oil on the world market. In other wordsthese reserves are not economically recoverable at this time, butmay become so if the price increases enough in the future.
Demand for Oil and oil products.
The ultra-rapid growth of developing countries such as Indiaand China places huge pressures on the world supply of oil, asthese economies suck in enormous amounts of petroleum products.Their governments are seeking increased prosperity for theirpopulations. The Indian and Chinese companies are growing veryfast because of their low labour rates are exporting at anever-increasing rate to the developed world and they willcontinue to grow for the medium term at least. These countriesare looking to bring their standard of living up towards thoseenjoyed by the USA and Europe and there is no way in which thiswill be stopped. These vast countries and populations will betomorrow's consumers, and that means energy usage andtransportation.
Environmental concerns.
The scientific thesis of global warming and climate changecannot be denied. Or to be more specific - the evidence isbecoming overwhelming such that the theory cannot be denied. This will have a major impact on everybody's life and governments andcommercial entities are both, to a certain extent, preparing tomake some changes. In particular as regards the level ofemissions from automobiles.
Combination effect
When you add these three elements together you get a damningcombination; whereby oil is getting more expensive to extract andless available, growth of demand among growing countries willmean the law of supply and demand will fuel increased prices andfinally the environmental concerns of car emissions will requirethat we all look at alternatives to petroleum products to powerour cars.
Where does this all lead?
The world is now in a situation whereby, because of those pressures already outlined, there is a search for different fuels.Some of these fuels and their sources will be easily determined and some not so easily. Some fuels will fulfil most of the requirements for availability, low price and low emissions, some will be marginal. Some products will require a major engineering change before they can be used on a large scale; some are ready alternatives for today's technology.