Are we getting close to any fuel alternatives other than gas itself?
460828
Actually, there are other alternatives.  And they do work.  Hemp is one of these.  But Bush has a lots of money tied up in oil.  So he discontinued the project.  And to make sure that it wasn't;t refined, he also shut down the hemp farms.
42604
No i dont think so, i think this technology is still very low developed, we need better ways to store the hydrogen, and worst than that we still need to convince people of the benefits of this source of energy.
460294
Depends on what for.  Nuclear fission is great for generating electricity.  Biodiesel has lots of promise as a motor vehicle fuel (not to mention would be great for the US Agriculture industry).  Solar power can greatly reduce the amount of power individual homeowners have to purchase from larger providers (but the initial investemnt is expensive).  Probably a combination of Fossil Fuel alternatives would be better than adopting a single alternative replacement.
1146179
I would say yes, its very remotely possible.  If the world oil reserves somehow proved to be way, way smaller than anticipated, and we suddenly ran out of petroleum.  That would pretty much change our way of life, probably forever, as most other real energy sources that could keep industry up and running are a good number of years away from being realized.
530744
An alternative energy source
350479
We are definitely at the point of no return. Recently, a NASA scientist said that we have ten years to reverse the effects of global warming. What's the likelihood that's going to happen? There aren't any good, readily available alternatives to petroleum, and not enough money is being put forth to find these alternatives, because the big oil companies have politicians the world over in their pockets.
686527
There are many ways to generate hydrogen outside electrolysis. Steam reforming, methane reforming, propane reforming, etc... Coastal countries may appear to have an advantage but you cannot have a fair comparison of supply and demand.  Consider the following:\n1. Many, many, many countries have access to coastal water, thus competition would be extremely fierce\n2. Countries will be more than self-sufficient and may "sell" excess product at a very low cost.\n3. Rivers, streams, rainwater etc... is available to more countries in the world than petroleum to many. \n \nI would not worry about it, depleting the sea is way way way way off, and besides, using H2 as fuel means that emission is....water. And no, the roads are not going to be slippery from algae (sorry, but I have heard a statement like that in the past)\n\nEver considered that we may come up with the technology to recover and re-use the water emission? Thus less filling up at your local Shell H2 station? \n\nI hope I was able to answer it for you in a objective manner
575237
we have two types - field corn (to feed our animals/chicken and corn by products) and sweet corn (to eat! to freeze/can)--just to name a couple of things.  \n\nand like the other poster said now it will be the ethanol 'thing' which is ALREADY making our gas more expensive.... we will never learn....
437877
It is possible, but it will be a difficult road.  <---Get it.\n\nFirst Ethanol is a very small baby step, it won't save us.  It might burn cleaner and take slightly less oil to make, but the horrible gas mileage make you have to use more of it to get where you're going.\n\nHybrid technology is on to something.  Electricity is the way to go.  With the advancements of battery & motor technology, you will soon see electric cars and trucks out perform the internal conbution engine.  The current problem is the high voltages necesary to drive those motors make these cars potentially very dangerous for mechanics to repair.  They can also be very dangerous in an acident.\n\nSo my solution is nuclear energy.  But this scares too many people.  All you have to do is build several plants out in the desert that will provide enough electricity to power everything including: heating/cooling, transportation, manufacturing, and comercial consumption.  \n\nThis will make us more ecconimically independant (richer) so that we can develop better ways of cleaning or disposing of the nuclear waste products.  My vote is shooting it into the Sun.\n\nBush's solution really isn't one.  He has to politicise the issue to placate the American people while allowing American companies to retool, research & develop, and create a delivery system for a new power source.  The current problem isn't the alternate energy source as much as it is how do companies sell us that new source.
27592
Fossil fuel is the primary alternative due to price.  As the price of fossil fuel rises, a number of alternatives become more attractive.  Wind energy is an option, but it is not likely to be the main alternative.  Nuclear has a long history for power plants, but very limited short term potential for other applications.  Solar holds tremendous potential.  Gas to liquid technology and coal to liquid technologies are the most likely alternatives in the 5 to 10 year range.  Hybrid cars will help for a while, and in 15 years hydrogen fuel cell cars will start to have a MAJOR impact.
395165
Thats really vague, there are millions of methods. But one that fascinates me is synthesizing natural resources. We have all thought at one time or another that gas could only come from oil but thats false. In WWII the germans got their gas using carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and some other chemicals. Since the 80's New Zealand and South Africa have been using ethanol and the zeolite (porous rock) ZSM-5 to make their gas.\n\nOther good methods involve recycling, but doing it in an energy conserving manner. Which some say ours are not. \n\nThe ultimate goal would be to "use our waste as our resouces". A good example being using the carbon monoxide that comes from car exahaust to synthesize gas. Imagine, being able to do that kind of chemistry with every one of our resources. Thats the ultimate preservation and conservation around!
738995
Not just no, but Hell No!!!   There isn't all  that much oil there to begin with and after all that digging to install pipelines and so on think what that will do to the environment.  And hopefully, within 10 years, now that we have a Democratic Congress which isn't in the pocket of Big Oil, maybe we can find some alternative fuel sources - this is one of the goals of the Democrats.....to encourage and promote alternative sources of fuel.  Allowing the drilling there was just for Bush and Cheney's buddies so they could make more money - like the oil companies don't make enough money.
82643
If things keep going as they are we wont be driving cars that run on gas. There are electric cars in development and other forms of fuel being developed.
91760
money. there are already alternate things we could use in place of oil. but corporations want to suck every penny out before we start using different pollutions.
199680
We all need to be working on driving less and using more public transportation/walking/biking now before things become a problem.  It would be difficult, yes, but we need to keep looking for alternative sources of energy and utilizing them.  We also need to encourage the government to increase routes and kinds of public transportation.
1005445
Yes we can, and yes we will.  There is a finite amount of fossil fuels in the world.  We certainly have more (a fair bit more) then the doomsayers would have you believe, but eventually they will run out.  Before they run out, the price will go up, and up, and up, until alternate clean sources of energy become marketable.  This will happen, it's simple economics.  In the mean time we, as a country, should be pushing to increase our domestic supply, and start now with serious research on how to create a new usable transportable source of energy.  I'm personally like the idea of hydrogen burning engines.  They're combustion engines like you have in your car, but they burn hydrogen, and emit water (h2o), that's their exhaust.  The only trick is you need alot of electricity to separate the hydrogen from the O2 in the first place, and we don't have a safe fuel tank for transport yet.  In the mean time, write your congressmen and senators, let them know this is a priority of yours and that it is a priority for our country.  Talk with friends, and increase awareness.  I work in the oil field, and trust me, I certainly recognize that our country, our planet needs to be thinking of the future.
565652
In school they teach that decaying matter over millions of years turns into oil.  \nThere probably isn't infinite amounts, but there is tons of it.  I honestly don't think we could ever run out.  The problem is getting to it.  We can't drill anywhere without ticking a bunch of people off, so it can be hard to actually obtain it.