Wednesday 2 February 2011

Is greener fuel the way forward?

I only ask this question because we seem in thrall to electric cars which can be expensive and impractical to recharge. It now seems though that there could be a new kid on the block.                                                              Within a few short years we could be using a cheap green fuel costing around 19p a litre. British scientists are trying to put the finishing touches to a formula for a cheap fuel based on hydrogen. This new fuel will be able to be used in existing cars and engines, but will only cost a fraction of what it does now.
Because its hydrogen based and not carbon, it won’t produce any harmful emissions that we have today, when it burns it will only produce water as a by-product. This of course will keep all those tiresome environmentalists quiet. Anything that keeps them quiet must be worth a look wouldn’t you say?                                                           
Leader of the project Stephen Bennington at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, in conjunction with University College London and Oxford University, has this to say; ‘We have developed micro beads that can be used in an existing gasoline or petrol vehicle to replace oil-based fuels. Early indications are that the micro-beads can be used in existing vehicles without engine modification. The materials are hydrogen based, and so when used produce no carbon emissions at the point of use, in a similar way to electric vehicles.’

This fuel hasn’t been given a proper brand name yet, but is expected to give the same range as conventional fuel.
However the AA president Edmund King has warned: 'The fact the hydrogen is cheaper now doesn’t mean it always will be because the Government would get it’s hands on it and increase the tax.’


You don’t say!

4 comments:

  1. Link? How's it going to work? Splitting H2O into H2 and O is very expensive, even if you can get round the problem of storing the stuff and transporting it safely.

    I like the rumour that they'll get bacteria to make oil instead. Sort of the evil twin brother bacteria of the ones that eat oil when there's an oil spill.

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  2. Hello Mark

    Sorry I haven't responded earlierr. I've had the devastating computer crash. I've lost all my artworks, documents - the whole lot. I feel really gutted. I had the XP Pro, now I've got the lesser XP Home editon. This time I'm backing up. Very expensive lesson.

    I agree with your comment, I will wait and see what transpires. Like you I'm afraid I'm rather sceptical, particularly about storage. Besides politicians would have a slant on this, and grab their share at some stage.

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  3. Sorry to hear about computer. The key lesson is always put everything on an external hard drive, which also makes changing to a new computer relatively painless.

    Can you pop back to mine and explain the roulette comment? Or send me an email if it's complicated?

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  4. Thanks Mark will do. I'm afraid maths isn't my strong subject. I will probably send an email.

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