Future Fuels

Future Fuels

ETR 66 Future Fuels and Plug-
in Cars
Dec. 30, 2008: Jane Vane Ryan talks with Tony Markel, senior engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado, about research being done on the next generation of cars and trucks.

EIA: 2008 Energy Outlook
Clean Diesel Alliance
API: Other Fuel Sources
The oil and natural gas industry believes that we will need all energy resources – wind, solar, biofuels and others – to meet the world’s growing demand for energy supplies. The world needs a portfolio of resources, as well as advanced research into future sources and technologies.

Energy companies are conducting or funding a significant amount of research into alternative energy sources. They also have partnered with the federal government and the U.S. auto industry to examine and advance the research needed to develop technologies necessary to develop a full range of fuel efficient and affordable cars and light trucks.

There are several conventional and unconventional fuel sources that have the potential to provide future benefits:

Conventional sources – billions of dollars in research have helped and scientists develop cleaner, more efficient, and better performing fuels from crude oil:

•Reformulated gasoline has led to significant reductions in ozone precursors and toxic emissions
•The introduction of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel is enabling the use of cleaner-technology diesel engines and vehicles resulting in significantly improved air quality
•Some refineries are converting heavier, sour crude oil into low-sulfur gasoline, diesel and jet engine fuel and squeezing extra gallons from every barrel
•Upgrading inferior oil sources (i.e. tar and oil sands) into refinery feedstocks shows promise
•Turning waste and residue hydrocarbons into high-value products through gasification is yet another approach being considered
Frontier sources – research is also leading the way toward the development of new sources of energy:

•Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, are being produced from corn, oil seeds, animal fats, and waste oils
•Processes to convert woody biomass and other cellulosic feedstocks into transportation fuels are being actively investigated
•Hydrogen, created by using natural gas, is being considered as a transportation fuel
•Fuel cells that convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process produce electricity could be used for heating and cooling, as well as for transportation, in the future
•Methane hydrates – methane gas frozen in ice crystals – could produce clean-burning energy for 1,000 years
•Coal gasification produces liquids that show promise as transportation fuels
•Processes that turn natural gas into a liquid fuel also can help to meet transportation demands. Even landfill gas is being converted into liquid fuel

Government money should not be diverted from R & D to look for more oil. Let the oil companies do that with the record profits they are making. Government grants and investments should go toward longer-term solutions, not subsidies for the oil companies.