future engines

[mee]

allright, we all knew that we are running out of fossil fuels. and the air in the atmosphere is getting more and more polluted.

since many years before this, scientists have tried air powerd engines, hybrid, fully-electric car, fuel cell, solar-power and others (even purely hydrogen fueled internal combustion engine)

my question is where will all the power and speed today's cars got? 'cause from what i know, none of the enviremntal-friendly concepts (which is an obligated must for future engines, in terms of zero pollution or very low emission) is as powerful and able to take cars faster than now.

does snyone thinks of an alternative, non-pollutant engine could possibly go faster than gasoline engines of today?

note that hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines puts only 40% of gasoline engine's power to be non-pollutant.

[GTR Dreamer]

i was thinking that today. also, with the topics of compressedair engines coming up just before on these forums. what about the pressurized air engines,like the ones in the airhogs toys?.

BTW welcome to ucp mee.

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

it would be a problem, except there's a population of the scientific community who believe global warming is part of the earth's natrual cycle (its happened many times in the past .. millions of years for each interval though) and the number is growing

now i'm not saying you should go guzzle gas like crazy and i'd like to say that low emmisions technology, alternative fuel sources are important but not as desperate as we've been led to believe

even though the exhaust from cars and what not might not be as big a factor as we've learned in our highschool science course it still isnt good, causes asthma, smog in cities, upsets the natural co2 content of the air carbon cycle bla bla bla

personally i still think suv's should be banned since they have NO advantages whatsoever over standard cars/trucks/stationwagons, they claim to have alot of cargo space which is true but you cant use all of it since it puts you over the max gross weight of the vehicle, in many suvs you cant even seat 5 full sized adults without going over the limit. a station wagon or van (which has a lower cog than suv of comprable size) is a much better alternative, both for your wallet and the enviroment

as for people who need the extra ride height cuz they cant see the road ... here's an idea sit on a pillow or shell out a couple extra bucks when you buy the car to upgrade to a powered seat

im sure you're all aware there's a law which requires manufacturers to have an average fuel economy rating to be above a certain level depending on their lineup of vehicles which is split into cars and trucks, trucks are allowed to have a crappier mpg rating since they're suppose to carry equipment, furniture, wood, ect while cars are primarily to carry people often only 1

what most people dont know is alot of manufacturers can set up their cars to comply with the TRUCK regulations which allow them to sell even MORE suvs and whatnot
for christs sake even the pt cruiser is classified as a truck, (i read this in car/driver)

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by KnifeEdge_2K1

it would be a problem, except there's a population of the scientific community who believe global warming is part of the earth's natrual cycle (its happened many times in the past .. millions of years for each interval though) and the number is growing

The 'population' of the 'scinetific community' who believe we are not affecting our environment is limited to the crackpots
We are, the REAL problem is we can't all decide in what way and how best to prevent it.
For example, one latest theory is that we're accelerating the weather changes be REDUCING the CO2 pollutants. They helped warm the environment and kept in balance the impact of other pollutants which are cooling it !! Both man-made problems on top of natures cycles.
Best is if we can try to let nature stabilise to it's cycles and reduce our impact on it. It's a complex machine we have little concept of and so far are turning some pretty BIG changes by oru actions.

now i'm not saying you should go guzzle gas like crazy and i'd like to say that low emmisions technology, alternative fuel sources are important but not as desperate as we've been led to believe

It's desperate because it's a limited resource.
The UK is now a net importer of gas. So we've used up our slice of the natural resource Who's next ??