Banning fossil fuels

Typedef

I was reading a motorcycle magazine called ride the other day and it claimed that the outlawing of fossil fules was only a matter of time, a claim I found hard to believe and unlikely seeing as how the US & UK seem poised to go to war with Iraq, over what some would claim is an oil war.

Clearly fossil fuels are extremely damaging to the environment, the GreenHouse effect is directly attributable to the vast amounts of Carbon dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and other nasty chemicals that get belched into the atmosphere in a large part from the internal combustion engine.

Still the article got me thinking, which is more likely the abolition of fossil fuels or the total depletion of the same?

Perhaps you have noticed the mild winter Ireland has just experienced? Is this mild winter simply a fluke or a symptom of a problem that is just beginning to raise it's head, ie, global warming as a reality has finally begun to have appreciable effects right on the doorsteps of Western Nations?

http://www.angelfire.com/mi3/gmpr/gmprbanpistons.htm

Daniel -- Switching from fossil fuels to cleaner, renewable alternatives is the only way out of the global energy "black hole". But it's going to take an entire century to set up a global alternative fuel infrastructure, and the industries-that-be are fighting this change every step of the way.

Typedef

mike65

I dont see how we can just ban fossil fuels, we need some aternatives first! But perhapes one day a hard decesion
will have to be taken, where a date is set and all industries/seciences/governments work together to make renewables workable, and to curtail activites where not.

By the by, on Channel 4 this afternoon on Richard & Judy
of all programmes they were talking about the possiblity
of London flooding and the need to raise the Thames Barrier.
This was in the context of more violent deep low-pressure systems which will be a side effect of climate change.

Mike.

Snowball

slowly but shruly they will get banned I think. They may run out before that happens but I hope that an alternative will be found before that and that they will just be gotten rid of... would be nice wouldn't it?

Rolo Tomasi

As the world becomes more environmentally aware fossil fuels will gradually be reduced and alternate sources more effective but we'll keep using fossil fuels and increasing our consumption of non-renewable forms of energy until there are none left.

Kalina

I think it will be a little of both if that makes sense.
People will become more environmentally aware and there will be more green alternatives to fossil fuels available to them. In the meantime stores of fossil fuels will run out which will push people into using non-fossil fuel alternatives.

azezil

Fossil fuels will only be done away with when they're nolonger the cheapest form of energy. This will most likely happen when they are greatly depleated.

rien_du_tout

I think that were fossil fuels banned worldwide 2moro (obviously wont be a worldwide ban but hey! it's my post!) that suddenly some scientists would realise the answer to the question of energy. Necessity is the mother of invention is it not....... There are viable alternatives for cars already.......... the oil companies seem to buy up every protype that may lead to a non fossil fuel energy source.......

seán

BattleBoar

My biggest question here has always been, "What will be the successor to the modern jet (turbofan) engine?" This is especially the question with the 21st century sure to bring air travellers in much larger numbers.

I've seen studies done on greatly improving efficiency with addatives that are renewable (eg. hydrogen) but never any studies on eliminating the need for fossil fuels entirely.

I personally believe finding alternative energy sources is of utmost importance to modern society and also believe that economics will ultimately dictate the introduction of vehicles (cars) based on renewable energy sources, but not anything official on renewable sources for air travel.

I have seen info on something developed by the US military called a pulse detonation wave engine using hydrogen or methane as fuel, but these were merely rumours as best I could tell...certainly nothing official.