John, there won't be any real replacement for oil while you have a "big oil" president in the whitehouse. All of the money being tossed at alternative fuel development is just a cover for not taking more direct action.
If you want to lower fuel consumption, tax gasoline higher, and give a tax break back to companies based on their actual fuel consumption. That would raise income for the government, lower fuel use (how many of you would drive your 10 mpg SUVs when you are paying $3 a gallon for gas?), and would lower overall fuel consumption by quite a bit. Right now, the cost of gas in the US is lower than almost anywhere in the world, including a number of the producing nations. That just isn't right, especially faced with crumbling road infrastructure.
More importantly, alternative fuels and electrification has to be looked at as a "total" system. Gasahol is one of the funniest things ever, because it takes almost twice as much energy 130,000 btus to generate a gallon of 77,000 btu gasahol. It's a loss system from the word go, you might as well burn whatever gave you the 130,000 btus to start with! Electrification is a joke, because the cars are being charged up, after losses for transmission and generation, by oil, coal, and natural gas in most cases. So in fact, all you have is a feel good situation that uses more energy and generates more pollution, not less.
The greatest gains in fuel economy can be made in the next 10 years by weaning people away from their gas hogs and into more reasonable vehicles... and allowing the rich to drive what they like, providing they are willing to pay for it.
Alex
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Let's go to the edge of disaster Push the pedal and go a little faster Let's slam into a wall at ramming speed Let's go to the edge of a mountain Jump off and lets start countin' Hit the ground and tell me if it bleeds
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