In the future without fossil fuels how could we jump

[billvon 3,085]

>Where can I read up more about diesel, biodiesel, recip, etc....? You
>don't hear about this stuff in Chicago

Best starting place is homepower.com. They have a lot of good info on biodiesel, hydrogen production etc.

[billvon 3,085]

>I got it - We use solar cells to provide the power to separate water
> into hydrogen and oxygen, then use the hydrogen to provide our
> need for energy.

Pretty wasteful. Conversion efficiencies are around 30% for that process. Another idea - use solar to power the grid (95-96% efficiency) and then use all the natural gas we used to burn to make electricity to fuel our cars and airplanes. The good news there is that we have all that equipment today, and it's cheap. (AND we already have a power grid and natural gas pipelines!)

[Dumpster 0]

I knew there had to be a catch or we would have been doing it sooner. Never considered effciency. The sun is free, and the process is probably pretty slow, but I never considered what it might take to package the hydrogen, either liquifying or pressurizing it. Good point that the distribution network is pretty much already in place.

Easy Does It

[Brodes 0]

Advanced birdsuits that you can flap to get upto altitude then fly back down and land again

[riggerrob 643]

We are going to see prioritization based on weight and cost.
For example, if you build a home heating/cooling system - based on solar energy - and weighing hundreds of tons, plenty of people will buy it and convert early.
Similarly, ships can haul around surprisingly heavy engines and still be fairly efficient. Sometimes that extra weight low in the engine room improves stability. Ships will burn heavier new fuels for decades before anyone tries to burn them in airplanes.
On the other hand, every pound of excess weight vastly decrease airplane performance/drives up price, so airplanes will be the last vehicles converted to exotic new fuels. Also remember that airplane passengers are willing to pay far more that for most other forms of transportation.
When I have to pay too much for jump tickets, I will just sew up a BASE rig or buy a para-glider.

[turtlespeed 226]

  Quote

100% biodiesel is currently running around $3/gallon, and can be used in many turbine engines. And of course could be used in diesel recip engines for aircraft. Aircraft can be run on natural gas as well, and natural gas is pretty easy to synthesize from water and carbon dioxide.

Wouldn't that make it Synthesized gas, not Natural Gas?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[billvon 3,085]

>Wouldn't that make it Synthesized gas, not Natural Gas?

OK, methane, Mr. Literal.