Transportation Energy Futures

Abstract

Considers the search for alternatives to petroleum for transportation energy, a process as yet only developed significantly in Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. Having outlined the problems of continued reliance on oil (energy security factors, indirect import costs, global warming, and urban air pollution) describes the multitude of alternative fuels and technologies within five broad categories: petroleum-like mineral fuels; biomass fuels; methanol from natural gas and oil; methane fuels; and hydrogen and clean electricity, which are intended to provide a framework for organising, describing, and assessing policy options. -P.Hardiman