We are doomed if we do not seek alternative fuel options.

I overheard some Yale students speaking about Brazil (I believe) who are developing an alternative to oil and will be self-sufficient in the next few years and will have no use for oil as fuel. They spoke of some interesting things.

you just figured this out?

oil is needed for everything in daily life, its not just a gas for cars thing

however honda has a fuel cell car
thats the future of that

for society to exist as it does, we need lots of oil, and the alternative energy needs to be used so the crude oil can be used for **** like.... plastic.... hell just look around your house and see that everything has plastic and that is oil

the oil companies will not allow us to seek alternate fuel until we are in dire straits.  Check out a movie called The deat of the elctric car (I think thats what it\'s called)

we got it all covered.  theres plenty of options out there and the technology is available.  the oil crisis is a capitalist thing...once we run out, alternate power companies are going to be the money makers, and its just a question of who can produce the most efficently, at the lowest cost.  then youll have your next exxon-mobil.

a lot of this research/development is going on at my school, so im relatively knowledgable about it (seminars almost weekly on this ****), although my research isnt related.

I like the optimism about alternative fuels...but is it realistic hope or just rationalization.

We have hundreds of years of coal reserves right here in the U.S.  One day we\'ll likely liquefy it, make it cleaner and power our cars.  

We can always expand nuclear power, drill off the outer continental shelf, tap into the geothermal energy of Yellowstone etc.  

As for ethanol, 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in it.  If all the automobiles in the United States were fueled with 100 percent ethanol, most U.S. land area would be needed to grow the corn feedstock.

The most exciting idea being studied right now is the potential to harness tidal power in San Francisco.  They hope to build massive turbines underneath the Golden Gate Bridge that capture the power of the tides entering and leaving San Francisco Bay.  Hopefully enough to power much of the city\'s electrical needs.

Hopefully battery power will advance to the point where cars can travel hundreds of miles without a charge.

I also saw something on these HS students who turned a diesel engine into a vegetable oil engine with an extremely easy procedure.

Yeah quite a few people have done this.