The Energy Evolution - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 9

War II Japan and Germany needed access to oil. Limiting this access was
part of the Allied efforts to end World War II. There have been more recent
struggles to control the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) and other oil rich areas, including the pathways from foreign oil
fields to markets.
The opportunities to harness solar, wind, wave, falling water and
biomass-waste resources are projected to exceed any wealth created by
the exploitation of oil. Progressing past the Oil Age means an important
economy of wealth expansion from energy-intensive goods and services
with renewable energy.
As energy-efficient technologies help to release us from fossil fuels,
consumers will have a wider and more diverse set of energy sources, the
economy will be more robust and the world more stable.
Carbon reinforced products that require less energy to produce and
that are ten times stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and that con-
duct more heat than copper can be increasingly used to reduce the weight
of vehicles, improve the performance of appliances and tools and increase
the efficiency of heat-transfer systems. Other forms of carbon will provide
super semiconductors and advanced optics.
Hydrogen powered transportation equipment can use stronger,
lighter more compact energy storage tanks made of carbon. Aircraft, ships
and buildings can use new forms of carbon materials that are much stron-
ger, more corrosion resistant, and that will withstand higher temperatures
than steel.
A BIOMASS FUTURE
One fuel alternative involves the more widespread use of biomass
produced fuels. More efficient biomass conversion techniques would help
make biofuels more cost-competitive. Land availability and crop selection
are major issues in biomass fuel usage. Biomass alternatives can be expect-
ed to grow to a significantly larger scale for providing fuel.
Land availability may not be a major problem, but land use issues
need to be coordinated. The long-term production of biofuels in substan-
tial quantities will require a number of changes. Grain surpluses will not
provide sufficient feedstocks for the fuel quantities needed. Producers will
need to switch to short-rotation woody plants and herbaceous grasses,
these feedstocks can sustain biofuel production in long-term, substantial