Ethanol is a joke.

These countries would be nice..



LAOS VIENTIANE $1.66
THAILAND BANGKOK $1.60
CHINA TIANJIN $1.54
CHINA SHANGHAI $1.48
RUSSIA MOSCOW $1.45
KAZAKHSTAN ALMATY $1.36
KAZAKHSTAN ATYRAU $1.35
TAJIKISTAN DUSHANBE $1.32
AZERBAIJAN BAKU $1.15
VENEZUELA CARACAS $0.14



.14 cents? Holy crap...

 

These countries are highly subsidized. As for the 14 cents, it's just another way the dictator, oops - president, buys his people's loyalty. Oh, yeah. That's still the price per Liter, isn't it?

By the way, a good portion of the cars in Turkey are converted to run on both gas and LPG. All of the taxis are.

 

Here's an interesting article:

Toyota's New Fuel Cell Hybrid Goes Twice the Distance of Previous Model - AOL Autos

 

That's way better than the current range of Chevy's Equinox SUV fuel cell vehicle that only, currently has a 150 mile range per fill up. I know they are working on that before the public release for sale but it would be nice if some of these companies would work together to advance their technology.

 

It probably goes further because it's smaller and lighter.

I agree. If two or three of the major players were to pool their knowledge and form a synicate to develop new technologies, they could probably come up with a successor to the internal combustion engine in a very short timeframe. Working by themselves, I don't think there will be any major, cost-effective breakthrough for 10-15 years. All of the auto makers would benefit and the ones who aren't involved in the development could pay a licensing fee to help defray costs.

But that's just my opinion.

 

So, the US is exporting biofuels to Europe. About 100M tons a year now and the EU is calling it unfair trading because the US subsidizes it and it's eligible for an EU subsidy. Just another way for the oil companies to make money?

 

I think you're right, which is why researchers need to look at short-term solutions as well as long-term solutions (eg - hydrogen technology).

But being a greenie, I also think there needs to be simultaneous research into the environmental impacts of biofuel production (even the land-use change causes an exorbitant amount of damage), not to mention research into the environmental impacts of coal seam methane extraction.

At the moment, in Australia, there are a lot of forums on new energy solutions and the peak oil theory, but nobody is able to pinpoint one particular energy solution that would be best for "right now". I like the idea of geothermal energy but, like hydrogen technology, I don't see it eventuating for at least 20 years.