Where should we look for alternative fuel sources?

Instead of looking to business or governments the answer lies with each of us. We can change things from below. Local cooling is the answer to global warming! I collect used vegetable oil from restaurants and convert this to diesel to run my truck on. I am hoping to be able to use the by product of this process as a heating fuel, though some extra work is needed on that. I drive a Land Rover Defender, this is the most energy efficient vehicle; since vehicle manufacture uses more energy than driving the vehicle and since Land Rovers last so long they are more efficient. Also the energy in their manufacture is derived more from human power and less from automation than most cars. I built my workshop from reclaimed materials, even including the strip lights and fittings, tools, etc. all the best urban

Honestly, we have the alternative solutions but the governments do want to change to such solutions becuase of the income. I would invest in solar and biofuel. More reliable than wind and gases. I do not like the idea of using hyrodgen in my car. But even though such things are avilable it will be a long time before the whole start using them. But to me i still feel that the alternative solutions are dependable on the conditions. I mean if lets say if there is too much cloud cover than solar power would be redundant. And with people increasing their electrical usage i guess it is going to be long time for any major change.

Global warming, I say solar energy. It's clean and we are said to be getting lots of it. Solar and wind energy are clean forms of energy. We should invent a system to load a battery full of it so we can still drive when there is not much sun or wind.

Most people think of solar power as a few panels on a rooftop producing hot water or a bit of electricity. But we should be building vast solar farms in North Africa's deserts. According to German scientists by covering just 0.5% of the world's hot deserts 'concentrated solar power' (CSP) could provide the world's entire electricity need. CSP technology has been around for a while. There is a plant in the Mojave desert in California and others are being constructed in Nevada, Spain and Australia. CSP makes use of mirrors that concentrate the sun's rays on a central column containing some sort of gas or liquid that heats up. The heat is then used to power conventional steam turbines as in a conventional power station. This form of solar power has an advantage because the hot liquid or gas can be stored so that the power station is able to produce energy even when the sun goes down. In Europe we should be developing a new high-voltage direct current electricity grid that would enable the easy, efficient transportation of electricity from a wide range of alternative sources. In the UK we should continue with the development of wind power. In the short term vast improvements in energy efficiency can be made. Other countries could also use this technology along with hydro, biomass and geo-thermal. The whole if Europe and North Africa could provide most of its own electricity in this way by 2050. There would be little need for fossil fuels and no need for highly costly nuclear power. We should not be building new coal power stations nor should we be condemning future generations with huge financial debts and mountains of radioactive waste by building more nuclear power stations. Unfortunately many politicians such as Gordon Brown and George Bush, remain ignorant or unwilling to pursue simple and readily available technologies such as CSP.

"Let us vow to get off of this sauce" Ani Defranco We need to get away from carbon altogether as a fuel. Wind, water, solar, hydrogen, even biofuels for a temporary stop gap measure. I saw someone on television tonight who said the thing I have been saying for months now. The Oil companies need to stop seeing themselves as oil companies and realize that they are energy providers. (They have the money to create the infrastructure needed and admittedly have a vested interest.)

I would love to see water-powered machines / transport. To me it doesn't seem to outrageous or impossible, I feel that we need the big companies (Ford, Nissan, GMC etc) to forget about profits / business for a short while and get together and try and sort the situation out. After all, the planet is more important than profit margins of already powerful companies! Great topic by the way!

we should look at vegetable oil