solar panels are a bit expensive, but it depends a lot on the marketing and on the time it would take for the system to pay itself off.

I agree with blokeinamoke that nuclear would be the ultimate power source. I don't know how well a nuclear reactor would work on such a small scale though.

I don't really understand why people are so worried about oil running out anyway. The solution is simple - convert all cars to electric and run them off power generated by nuclear power stations.

Would be good , but try and get anything nuclear past the greens and other groups first .... WHichever way we go we are screwing the planet in the end , nuclear , if done safely with enough failsafes will screw it the slowest ....

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Yep, if we sacrifice a few cubic km in the centre of australia, several kilometres under the ground we will (hopefully) avoid destroying the entire planet through global warming.

But we can't because the tree-hugging hippies won't let us

If we are gonna be out of oil as the Peak Oil doomsayers predict, it's not just petrol... nearly everything we use has an oil input.
Everything from food, plastics, computers to the clothes on your back will be scarcer or disappear.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

You can get synthetic oil though. Plus the economics of it mean that this will probably never happen - if no one can produce a particular product any more and you can work out how to do it you would become very rich. we would make do some way or another

Yes , we would make do but at what cost , remember the old cfc styrofoam packaging that the greens liked because it was saving trees being cut down to make cardboard packaging .....

There are no easy answers , as the doc say's a lot of things (OK , an enormous amount) are tied into fossil fuels and their byproducts , something needs to be looked at but I don't think the current crop of ideas are the answer . Ethanol fuel blends are expensive to produce , the fuel is only cheaper because the govt has removed part of the excess on fuel with ethanol in it otherwise it would be considerrably dearer . Electric cars would be good if we could produce better , lighter batteries or super efficient generators and also make them suitable for everyday use by everyday people . I'm sure there would be a lot of city commuters only doing 20 k's a year but up until recently I was doing 50,000 plus k's a year carrying and towing large loads so a little super economical city car won't do .

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<sarcastic>Electric cars are awesome though because they don't pollute. You just plug them into the wall and power magically comes out </sarcastic>

I guess we will probably end up with more problems than we can solve in the short term if oil runs out, even with economics lending a hand. Hopefully it will be more of a gradual transition - as oil gets more expensive the alternatives become more attractive and oil use drops.

I guess we will be in a bit of trouble, but for the most part the issues wouldn't be insurmountable.

I agree that the cost could be high though. especially if there was another depression or something due to our economy stagnating from lack of oil

Back in the 50s they got oil from shale. There are huge deposits at Newnes (NSW) and elsewhere.
The word was it would be economically viable to extract when oil reached US$50/barrel, but I don't hear a stampede up there yet.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Australia has enough shale oil to last a couple of hundred years.
There was a shale oil project in Queensland very recently but Greenpeace protested it to death and the major oil companies wouldn't buy their oil. So it has now gone.
It is a very simple process, you take 1000kg of high quality shale cook it in an oven and you end up with 200 litres of oil.

This gives more details on woodgas and how to convert a car:
http://www.webpal.org/b_recovery/3_alternate_energy/woodgas/fema_wood_gas_generator.pdf

It would be interesting to give it a try on an old engine

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Before you judge someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you judge them, you are a mile away and you have their shoes.

This is the way to go with city commuting http://www.theaircar.com/

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

your chemical equation is wrong that why. the equation is H2 is burning and O2 is a catalyst in the burning process. H2 is far more combustible than petrol.

the same "perfect" reaction is possible with fuel ie only having water and CO2 as the by-product, but motors are way to inefficient and petrol is full of impurities.

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Eddy

as a theoretical equation my equation is correct but as you (eddyb) mentioned it doesn't quite work out that way in practice

more details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen

After reading Kurt Johansons book I've been tempted to try it on a small scale (lawn mower engine on the bench but haven't had enough time . I doubt it's a viable idea for highway use (doubt RTA would be happy with it on the road ...) but could be interesting as something to play with for an old ride-on mower or something , just to prove you can .....

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Ford Nucleon concept car from the 50's. Imagine 5,000 miles to the refill.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon

FWIW, I agree with everything richarde has said so far. I'm thinking he is an engineer... clicking on profile... yep... Mech Eng... yay

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"Life is not like a box of chocolates... it's more like a jar of jalapenos. Whatever you do today, may burn your arse tomorrow."