• Question: when fossil fuels run out what could be used to power things instead?

    Asked by to Daren, Lynne, Phillip, Simon on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Daren Fearon

      Daren Fearon answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Good question as this is likely to happen. We have alternatives in nuclear energy and renewable energy (such as solar power, wind turbines and hydro or water power). All of these have different pros and cons and so a combination of all of them is likely.

    • Photo: Lynne Thomas

      Lynne Thomas answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      We are already looking at trying to find new sources of energy. Nuclear power gives us a lot of energy but has down sides that it creates radioactive waste in the process which is not very safe so we are having to find ways that we can safely store this. We can also look at other areas of renewable energy like Daren has mentioned. And maybe one day we will be able to use nuclear fusion!

      One big area of research in energy at the moment is looking at hydrogen as a fuel source. If we burn hydrogen, we make water and get energy out in the process and we could use this to fuel cars for instance. The problem is that hydrogen is a gas and gases take up more volume to store than liquids and solids. It can also be quite explosive! So in order to make it so that cars don’t need massive fuel tanks, we need to have clever ideas about how me might be able to store hydrogen in other ways. One of these possibilities is using things called MOFs which are basically chemical sponges. They are solids and we can push hydrogen into them and store it more efficiently. We haven’t managed to make one which could actually be used in a car yet though as it is quite hard to get the gas to stay in! But maybe one day, your car will have a MOF inside it and the only thing in your exhaust fumes will be water!

    • Photo: Simon Redfern

      Simon Redfern answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      the Sun provides us with energy for free every day, and I reckon that is where we are best looking – solar energy, wind energy, and biofuels are all products of the energy received from the Sun.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      People are developing hydrogen cars which don’t burn petrol, but combine hydrogen and oxygen together to make water. This might be useful for when petrol runs out!

    • Photo: Phillip Manning

      Phillip Manning answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      The chances are, that when the fossil fuel is exhausted, that renewable energy will have been perfected…hopefully wind, solar or tidal….although nuclear is a logical option, but many find the latter unpalatable.

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