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One advantage would be if they can make fuel compatible with presently existing vehicles. Even twenty years from now, gas-powered cars are going to be common,

One advantage would be if they can make fuel compatible with presently existing vehicles. Even twenty years from now, gas-powered cars are going to be common, just because gas-powered cars can last for twenty years and upgrading to electric faster than natural replacement is a financial and industrial burden. If you can make a car carbon-neutral while saving the [economic, industrial, environmental] cost of replacing it with an electric, that's a win. Even in the long run, though- gas currently has something like a 100-fold energy density advantage over most batteries. It will likely continue to have uses long into the future.

oldcynic 9y ago
To me that's a big loss. It seems pretty clear we're not fixing this quickly enough and need to go quicker. A2F fuel is still hydrocarbon so will still spit out similar pollutants along with contributing to the associated health impacts. As the second half of the article notes it's far better not to have the pollution in the air in the first place. What about the economic, industrial, and environmental cost of creating and running the A2F infrastructure and process? In 10 years, probably less, most vehicles will have been replaced. Keeping internal combustion viable for +20 years will just avoid the issue and help delay the inevitable switch to renewables; be that electric, fuel cell, or something more exotic. Worst case scenario - in 20 years internal combustion is still pervasive, in part thanks to the adoption of A2F, with both fuels at the pump: oil sourced £2, A2F £2.10. So in 20 years I sincerely hope gas powered cars are not common, and are fast becoming an occasional historic entertainment found in clubs, tracks and preservation societies. Rather like steam trains and horses have perhaps. It could perhaps be very useful for aviation where renewables seem unlikely to make much impact any time soon.
- maxander 9y ago
  A2F is unlikely to incentivize staying on fossil fuels- people burn gas because it’s cheap, and A2F won’t make it much cheaper in either case. I would also note that for electric vehicles to be worth the bother at all, you also have to believe that the electric grid will be mostly renewable. And our current crop of coal plants will, sadly, last much longer than our cars, even if we stopped building them already (which we haven’t.)

oldcynic 9y ago

To me that's a big loss. It seems pretty clear we're not fixing this quickly enough and need to go quicker. A2F fuel is still hydrocarbon so will still spit out similar pollutants along with contributing to the associated health impacts. As the second half of the article notes it's far better not to have the pollution in the air in the first place. What about the economic, industrial, and environmental cost of creating and running the A2F infrastructure and process? In 10 years, probably less, most vehicles will have been replaced. Keeping internal combustion viable for +20 years will just avoid the issue and help delay the inevitable switch to renewables; be that electric, fuel cell, or something more exotic. Worst case scenario - in 20 years internal combustion is still pervasive, in part thanks to the adoption of A2F, with both fuels at the pump: oil sourced £2, A2F £2.10. So in 20 years I sincerely hope gas powered cars are not common, and are fast becoming an occasional historic entertainment found in clubs, tracks and preservation societies. Rather like steam trains and horses have perhaps. It could perhaps be very useful for aviation where renewables seem unlikely to make much impact any time soon.

maxander 9y ago
A2F is unlikely to incentivize staying on fossil fuels- people burn gas because it’s cheap, and A2F won’t make it much cheaper in either case. I would also note that for electric vehicles to be worth the bother at all, you also have to believe that the electric grid will be mostly renewable. And our current crop of coal plants will, sadly, last much longer than our cars, even if we stopped building them already (which we haven’t.)