by cube » Fri 11 May 2007, 18:16:10
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peripato', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('matt21811', 'I') understand the argument fairly well. The argument centres around the idea that there is no replacement for the liquid fuel that comes from oil. I'm suggesting there is an alternative. That alternative is CTL.
The problem here, apart from the huge economic and environmental costs and lead times involved, is that CTL manufacture would hasten coal's own geological peak. We would quickly face the same problems we'd encounter with oil and natural gas, and the quality of the coal would be even poorer afterwards than either of the other fossil fuels at their peak, further magnifying the associated costs in the whole CTL process.
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Totally agree. A non-renewable resource is a non-renewable resource, no matter how you slice and dice it. It doesn't matter if you use coal:
1) to run steam powered trains
2) to make CTL (coal to liquids)
3) make electricity to power electric cars
4) insert your favorite *alternative* technology
Eventually we'll get stuck with the question: "What type of standard of living can be maintained purely through renewable energy?"
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There's another concept that I like to add:
Utility (yes I made that word up):
"utility" is the usefulness of an energy source for a particular situation.
lets do a comparison:
1) feeding a horse oats vs.
2) filling up a car with gasoline
Lets also assume that a horse is equal to an engine in efficiency say 20%.
Suppose the cost of gasoline skyrockets and become equal to the cost of oats. This would make the energy costs of running a car equal to a horse. However a car would still have serious advantages because of superior "utility":
1) you can run your car for 16 hours a day if needed
2) a car is cheaper to maintain
3) a car can carry a heavy load. I suppose if you took a large team of horses say 12 and attached them all to the same carriage you can also pull a very heavy load too! Anyone here tried to "manage" 12 horses at once?
An argument can be said that the primary advantage of oil is "
utility" not cost. For example oil is MUCH more expensive then coal by a huge margin. (more then double I think?)
But despite this it's still cheaper to run planes, trains, ships, and cars on oil rather then coal.
I've noticed the topic of "cost" gets mentioned a lot......the value of an energy source cannot be defined by cost alone.
my 2 barrels of oil