Is This It For Petroleum?

[Bob Schroeck]

UK company develops $1.50/gallon synthetic fuel with no carbon emissions.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Rev Dark]

It looks good on paper - but the question is materials and scalability in order to meet the demands.  It takes energy to generate energy, and there is a material cost is the coversion of that energy.  One thing that is interesting about this is that the product can be generated and shipped, and should be able to use existing infrastructure with few modifications.  Rather than oil from tankers, it could be this substitute from hydro stations, or wind farms, whatever the root energy (hydrogen) producing source is.
Exciting.  I loves me some science.  Scalable?  That remains to be seen.
Shayne

[Wiregeek]

Even if this is only the missing link between Nuclear/Solar/Wind/Other Green Energy and my gas tank, it's still a compelling thing to look at.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Dartz]

And yet, there will be something lost as well. There is nothing quite so sweet as the unique aroma of vapourised 4-star, hot metal, engine oil and warm tyres. A good soothing mechanical smell, one that speaks of energy and effort 65 million years in the making. a dilophosaurus who died so I can quick spin down my favourite road.

Steam romanticised the horse. Petrol romanticised steam. And now it's petrol's turn....
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[ECSNorway]

"Farewell, Romance!" the Cave-men said;
"With bone well carved he went away,
Flint arms the ignoble arrowhead,
And jasper tips the spear to-day.
Changed are the Gods of Hunt and Dance,
And he with these. Farewell, Romance!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Lake-folk sighed;
"We lift the weight of flatling years;
The caverns of the mountain-side
Hold him who scorns our hutted piers.
Lost hills whereby we dare not dwell,
Guard ye his rest. Romance, farewell!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Soldier spoke;
"By sleight of sword we may not win,
But scuffle 'mid uncleanly smoke
Of arquebus and culverin.
Honour is lost, and none may tell
Who paid good blows. Romance, farewell!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Traders cried;
Our keels ha' lain with every sea;
The dull-returning wind and tide
Heave up the wharf where we would be;
The known and noted breezes swell
Our trudging sail. Romance, farewell!"

"Good-bye, Romance!" the Skipper said;
"He vanished with the coal we burn;
Our dial marks full steam ahead,
Our speed is timed to half a turn.
Sure as the ferried barge we ply
'Twixt port and port. Romance, good-bye!"

"Romance!" the season-tickets mourn,
"~He~ never ran to catch his train,
But passed with coach and guard and horn --
And left the local -- late again!"
Confound Romance! . . . And all unseen
Romance brought up the nine-fifteen.

His hand was on the lever laid,
His oil-can soothed the worrying cranks,
His whistle waked the snowbound grade,
His fog-horn cut the reeking Banks;
By dock and deep and mine and mill
The Boy-god reckless laboured still!

Robed, crowned and throned, he wove his spell,
Where heart-blood beat or hearth-smoke curled,
With unconsidered miracle,
Hedged in a backward-gazing world;
Then taught his chosen bard to say:
"Our King was with us -- yesterday!"

THAT for the romance of petrol.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Dartz]

And I'm sure that when hovercars come along, someone will miss the feel of the road beneath them. It's human nature to feel nostalgic for that which has come before. All childhood summers were sunny. All winters were snowy. Probably because we only remember the good parts which we enjoyed, with all the bad being filtered out.

It's not always unfounded, mind. During the last big Freeze in the UK, steam loco's in preservation could keep running quite happily, while the modern electrics just failed. And frankly, the whirr of an electric motor could never replace the visceral yowl of a high-revving petrol engine breathing through open pipes. When it's so loud you can feel it reverberate through your body and it's almost powering you to go faster and faster...
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Werehawk]

Speaking of electric cars and cold weather. There is one problem with electric cars and cold weather namely their batteries capacity to retain charge. Something which will come up in the future during a nasty winter storm. Article in Washington Post on that below:

http://www.washingtonpost.../27/AR2011012706170.html
--Werehawk--
My mom's brief take on upcoming Guatemalan Elections "In last throes of preelection activities. Much loudspeaker vote pleading."