Alternatives to Fossil Fuels....?

Are there any realistic alternatives to oil in development at the laboratories of corporations or governments ?
Or will the end of fossil fuels result in war, chaos and the second fall of civilisation?

Without fossil fuels how much of the world we now know could be continued with different and new energy sources?

For a thousand years the people of Europe looked backwards to the second century AD as the most civilized and advanced of times that mankind had ever had the pleasure to live in.
Will the 20th and early 21st Centuries be studied with envy and wonder by future generations who live at times that cannot provide the things that we take for granted every day?

Will the future be DEEP SPACE NINE
or MAD MAX THREE???

Solar and Geothermal. Both are here and now and getting cheaper and a 30% tax credit

i'll just go back and live in my cave with my feral dog pack and robroy.
I'm a real man. I don't need fossil fuels.
Back in my youth, when men where men and sheep were nervous, we didn't need fancy-schmanchy stuff like oil or gas.

We need a completely new paradigm of energy use for one.

How many homes/buildings are wasting fuck-tons of energy by virtue of their crappy design. Passive heating/cooling, mandatory water collection, getting rid of garbage collection, etc etc etc.

Human powered devices for some energy use. Not matrix style, just work turned into energy, not your blood.

That's a start.

heckler73 said:

Algae Oil?
Seriously, if we are that desperate in the future--due to apathy to alternatives--we will find a way to mass produce the shit from the coastal waters.
Right now, it isn't large scale. But give it some time, and impetus, then we'll see more fruits from those labours.
Coupled with advancement in alternatives (since there are plenty of consumers waiting for it), the current rates of consumption will probably be mitigated more than expected.

The end of fossil fuels isn't really "The End."

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Hemp oil?

bio-energy is the thing to get into. if we were to devote as much effort into 'green scene' as we do petroleum, we could literally grow this planet for the good of all. burn renewable resources if necessary, and move to less infective processes. for instance, using solar/wind/geothermal energy to provide power to use water (h and o2), our footprint could be practically invisible.

You're still combusting with oils. Personally I'll look to plug in items. Electricity is so clean and the tech is here.

I thought the solution was algae

there's a company designing solar powered roads. They say if installed all over the US it would provide three times as much power as we use now

tightpockt said:

there's a company designing solar powered roads. They say if installed all over the US it would provide three times as much power as we use now

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Hell we can't even get them to fix the pot holes here in Michigan. There's ~8 potholes big / deep enough to completely total my car on the road I drive in to work on everyday...I don't know how we could afford solar powered roads if we can't even maintain normal roads

they are modular said they would be much easier to repair and maintain than conventional concrete and asphalt

ayr0n said:

Hell we can't even get them to fix the pot holes here in Michigan. There's ~8 potholes big / deep enough to completely total my car on the road I drive in to work on everyday...I don't know how we could afford solar powered roads if we can't even maintain normal roads

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tightpockt said:

there's a company designing solar powered roads. They say if installed all over the US it would provide three times as much power as we use now

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I saw that. It isn't for high speed roads,. there is an Israel invention for that.

This is for parking lots. Great idea, I thought. A highway has to be a lot deeper set with foundation materials to last for a while with giant trucks. You see they use concrete for freeways in urban areas.

The other invention is to bury Piezo-electtic generators in the road bed. deep enough for protection and mostly solid state devices to last.

The constant rolling pressure generates power.

I saw a similar idea for on and off ramps. It was kind of like a speed bump that depressed every time a car drove over and produced a significant amount of energy.

Doer said:

I saw that. It isn't for high speed roads,. there is an Israel invention for that.

This is for parking lots. Great idea, I thought. A highway has to be a lot deeper set with foundation materials to last for a while with giant trucks. You see they use concrete for freeways in urban areas.

The other invention is to bury Piezo-electtic generators in the road bed. deep enough for protection and mostly solid state devices to last.

The constant rolling pressure generates power.

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Solar panels are available today. I keep saying this because the technology to replace fossil fuel isn't waiting to be invented. It's being used now and the Koch brothers are paying millions to stop it. I'm installing a solar array and will sell power to Consumers Energy

BS. You cannot show tech that is available right now but, someone is hiding it.

There will be 50% Tech very soon. No one is hiding it since I know all about it.

You panels are already obsolete.

• 44.7% efficient solar cells by Fraunhofer. Notably, these world-leading solar cells from Fraunhofer are in the concentrator triple-junction solar cell category. Such solar cells are complicated and are not used in residential or commercial applications… because they are bloody expensive. They are used in space applications by the likes of NASA, where a bit of extra space (or, as it may be, less space via extra efficiency) can make a huge difference.

• 37.9% efficient solar cells by Sharp. Just a step down, these are in the triple-junction, non-concentrator solar cell category. If this is all new to you, it might take you awhile to see the difference in the categories. The difference is that these solar cells don’t use anything to concentrate the light hitting the solar cells, while the 44.7% efficiency cells above do use something to concentrate the light (of course, adding to their costs).

• 32.6% solar cells by a Spanish solar research institute (IES) and university (UPM). These are another step down, as they are in the two-junction, concentrator solar cell category. (For an intro on “junctions,” by the way, check out this multi-junction photovoltaic cell article on Wikipedia.) Again, these are still far different solar cells from what are used in commercial or residential installations.

Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/02/which-solar-panels-most-efficient/#duGRdGqOEQcrvz6P.99

... Sounds like you are wanting to be nasty. Not sure why.

Rrog said:

... Sounds like you are wanting to be nasty. Not sure why.

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You call it nasty? I never said anything but efficiency is increasing.

So what? Buyers remorse already?

Doer said:

You call it nasty? I never said anything but efficiency is increasing.

So what? Buyers remorse already?

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Not nasty to make some unproven ass-like comment about some rich people?

Oh yes it is.

Prove the hiding, nasty boy.