Dearth of fuel

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R400

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Well panel the IEA has announced it will seek the banning of all fossil fuel domestic boilers ( gas, oil and coal) from 2025. This is a colossal move , the far reaching effects are myriad. What chance have we gas guzzlers got of continuing with our passion , the political and public opinion will sway hugely against such profligate consumption of oil. The cost of diesel and petrol and control of its distribution will become a problem also. While the IEA is coming up with suggestions to electrify just about everything shipping doesn’t seem to be mentioned . It was mind boggling to to consider shutting down Business Earth due to COVID but it happened.
The price of sailing craft might strengthen !
Hey Ho
 
I can't see boats being restricted any time soon.
The number of boats in use at any one time is small.
The number of gas boilers in use on a Winter Friday evening is huge.
 
R400 said:
Well panel the IEA has announced it will seek the banning of all fossil fuel domestic boilers ( gas, oil and coal) from 2025. This is a colossal move , the far reaching effects are myriad. What chance have we gas guzzlers got of continuing with our passion , the political and public opinion will sway hugely against such profligate consumption of oil. The cost of diesel and petrol and control of its distribution will become a problem also. While the IEA is coming up with suggestions to electrify just about everything shipping doesn’t seem to be mentioned . It was mind boggling to to consider shutting down Business Earth due to COVID but it happened.
The price of sailing craft might strengthen !
Hey Ho
Click to expand...

The 2025 thing is a load of old nonsense. Just headline grabbing drama.

From the article:

The IEA says that as well as greening the energy system it will need to be expanded to provide electricity to the 785 million people in the world who have no access at present.

To meet this challenge the world will need to install four times the amount of wind and solar energy than it did in 2020.
This equates to adding a massive solar park every day over the next nine years.
 
At some point they will ban the sale of new fossil fuel boilers and as old boilers die they will be replaced by electric.
Similarly at some point they will likely ban the sale of new fossil fuel powered boats, but they will never ban the older boats.
Once all new Cars, Boats, Heaters etc etc are no longer fossil fuel powered then there will be less pressure to increase prices of Diesel as it would be hitting the less well off predominantly.
Personally I hope we will have synthetic fuels before then so we won't have to be paying for the volume of batteries a boat would need.
 
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I wouldn't panic yet. As yet there is no real alternative to diesel for most commercial applications. Haulage, commercial seacraft and fishing boats up to modest ships, heavy construction and mining and agriculture.
They are trying all sorts of diesel alternatives in tractors but none are viable yet due to cost and/or impracticality. I have two mid sized tractors with 5.5 litre Iveco engines. They will burn up to 300 litre per day when working hard. If they were electric powered the battery mass would have to be huge and would cost £400K or more to produce enough energy to work hard over a 12 hour day.
 
Synthetic fuels will solve some of the big renewable energy problems.
The sunniest parts of the world don't need the most electricity and for the developed world, to have enough renewable energy available, you will have to have far more capacity than you require 90% of the time.
Huge Solar farms in the deserts of the world could create synthetic fuels and ship them using the current infrastructure.
In the developed world we could have our overcapacity directed to synthetic fuel plants at little to no cost as the electricity would be thrown away otherwise.
 
Farmer Piles said:
As yet there is no real alternative to diesel for most commercial applications.
They are trying all sorts of diesel alternatives in tractors but none are viable yet due to cost and/or impracticality.
Click to expand...
Is the use of HVO not viable?
 
Ah, thanks. Don't know about this particular fuel but there have been huge problems with the most modern engines since they increase the amount of biofuel in diesel. Farmers are having to carry fuel filters on the tractors as they clog so quickly - say, 50 hours rather than replacing them at the normall 500 hour service. The other issue is that biofuel is very hydroscopic and draws moisture like mad. Enough of a problem on land never mind at sea.
I haven't seen anything about HVO but not to say that it's not been used. Farmers on the whole are pretty au fait with biofuels as we grow them.
 
It seems to e claimed that HVO doesn't have the issues associated with FAME.
From a leisure boating perspective it seems to the ideal solution although no doubt at greater cost than diesel refined from mineral oil.
 
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