POLL: What fuel would you like to see cars/trucks run on?

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Ethanol! Made from switch grass and suburban weeds. Can you imagine mowing your grass someday and then use the clippings to make ethanol to power the mower that cut grass in the first place? Just blows my mind to think about it; but it would be so cool.
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Switchgrass might be a good idea. The Western countries produce too much grain anyways, so converting high-input grain lands to low-input grass might actually make some profit for farmers, without needing subsidies. You might be able to extract a protein concentrate from the grass, too, depending on how you make it into fuel.

The excess grain production has politcal effects, too, because prices are depressed. This puts farmers out of business, so in certain countries they might choose to grow drugs instead, which supports criminal gang activity around the world (terrorists).

Growing grass also causes almost zero soil erosion, so it's more sustainable. I'm not sure of the economics, though.
 
A combination/hybrid of fuel cell and battery charge. Nothing beats the efficiency of fuel cell in generating electricity (if you can get hydrogen efficiently) and nothing beat the motion efficiency of electric motor.

Now if we can get something 100x as good as Li-Pol battery safe in car for many years worth of usage life CHEAP.
 
Can current gasoline engines get more efficient? I know my 2.2L Ecotec gets 35MPG @ 70mph and 45MPG @ 55mph. Still, I get 140HP with a 0-60mph in the 7 second range.

What about VW's Diesel that gets 90mpg? You start making cars like that you cut gasoline/diesel consumption in half because most people with SUVs are getting 13MPG in real life.

I think Ethanol and Hydrogen are our current saviors from gasoline consumption. Ethanol is not practical yet - and Hydrogen is a long ways off. I just don't see the rewards of hybrid technology yet... My co-worker's Prius gets +5mpg than my car.
 
I like the diesel/oil variants. There seems to be more fuel choices with properly design. Plus compression ignition engines are by nature more efficient. Some form of CI engine with plug in hybrid drive makes sense to me.

Chris
 
I like the idea of ethanol made out of yard clippings. That's right! Yard clippings!

When you go to cut your grass or use the weed eater; you gather up all the clippings and take it to your bio-fuel recycle center. There you will be given tokens depending on the poundage of clippings you brought in; and then take your tokens to the local bio-fuel station and fill up your car with cheap-plentifull-renewable-ethanol.

I think the answer to our energy problems is literally in our own back yard.
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If all of the inputs into current fuel sources were paid at the bowser, rather than through taxation (eg security wars etc), almost anything locally produced will become viable.
 
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