…when fossil fuels are exhausted?
Same question re space exploration.
necessity is the mother of invention. Or it damn well better be…
Anyway, there are other options for space travel. Natural gas is currently being used for some project. Also, according to this site, fossil fuels really aren’t being used at all. To get the shuttle off the ground takes atomized aluminum and ammonium perchlorate. The engines themselves burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
Yo, Ender - most aircraft don’t use rocket fuel. Just a tip. 
That said - there are working solar powered aircraft. The techonology is used on unmanned drones right now, but presumably it will continue to be refined. Not sure it will ever be practical for passenger airlines (there we just might use rocket fuel) but might do for smaller aircraft.
Natural gas or hydrogen might be practical as well, and can be made without using fossil fuels (although they’re more expensive that way). Aircraft engines, fueling equipment, and so forth will have to be swapped, which will be expensive, but if the alternative is no flying it will be done.
Short answer: They don’t have a clue.
Of course they’re working on and considering different things, like solar power, hydrogenium (having been produced via solar cells on the ground) and stuff. But so far no real satisfactory solution to that problem (which is becoming more and more urgent) has been found.
We’ll probably just start building nuclear powered airplanes and atomic rocketships.
Dirigibles. I just like the sound of it.
I wouldn’t worry too much; by the time we run out to the extent that we can’t fly to Disneyworld any more, civilization will have collapsed into warring city-states like in the Road Warrior.
Unless you think we can come up with Star Trek-level energy sources (Mr. Fusion, anyone?).
Yes, but I strongly suspect that currently lots of fossil fuels are used in refining the aluminium and electrolysing water to get the hydrogen and oxygen; that’s not to say that there aren’t other ways of generating the power to do it.
Since airships seem to be making a come back for cargo at least , they will probably bring back things similar to zeplins since they can use other gases for lift = safer than hindenburg ship. Also the airship could fly at very high altitude so avoiding cloud blockage or sunlight, combined with fuelcells for when it gets dark.
However since fossil fuels are not going to run out for a while everybody will probably have no need to travel as the internet develops and super high bandwidth comes into play
people will probably travel via telepresence.Its already happening in terms of work people work @ home but are connected to meetings and the work place via cables.If not telepresence (since we seem to be wrecking the planet) probably virtual worlds which are powered by super high power computers that they are indistingustable from reality
ustilising some sort of neural interface to enhance reality.
And so you can move around in this space.
>> Since airships seem to be making a come back
Is that so? I guess I’ve missed this remarkable thing.
>> they will probably bring back things similar to zeplins since they can use other gases for lift = safer than hindenburg ship
And, pray tell, supposing for a minute this were true, how would this mean any saving in energy?
>> virtual worlds which are powered by super high power computers that they are indistingustable from reality
ustilising some sort of neural interface to enhance reality
Oh, hmmm, ok… You mean I can have sex with Cindy Crawford? You mean we cal all have sex with Cindy Crawford at the same time? Cool…
Origianly posted by sailor
I don’t like to share, do we all have to do it at the same time???
Denis Miller once said something to the effect that when the average Joe can log on to a web site and have virtual sex with Cindy Crawford, it’s gonna make crack look like pez.
Can you make synthetic methane (naturalsub[/sub] gas) without using coal?
GP, I have to second sailor’s skepticism regarding airships making a comeback…
Any more information on this (i.e. cite)?
Back when we had the first energy shortage ;), I was contracted by Mr. Lear himself to do some concept illustrations for prop assisted planes. They looked like jets with wings. Though I don’t know much about the workings (all hush-hush, you know) they were set to go into production until OPEC relaxed a little.
I realize that these used FF’s but as I understood it, not a lot and in conjunction with another fuel source.
There’s probably a technology just waiting in the <cough> wings.
A German company named Cargolifter actually is planning to give the airships a comeback, but only for freight. The ship hovers in low altitude above the cargo (which is packed into one single container), then picks the container up with a ship-internal crane and fixes it below the airship’s hull. It’s especially effective for large bulky stuff like power station turbines or similar, which would otherwise have to be trucked to the nearest airport (and transporting things like this on road is really annoying).
For those of you interested, here a link about the Cargolifter project:
http://www.cargolifter.de/2001/repository/portal_e.html
(Of course it’s a commercial page advertising the ship, but it has some information as well).
maybe it’ll be about time to just launch each other using large, high-powered guns (similar to a human cannon ball?). either that or enormous rubber bands–I’ll let you decided how you’d like to air-travel.
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Is that so? I guess I’ve missed this remarkable thing.
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Check that german cargo link another poster put up , i did say cargo in my original post.
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>> they will probably bring back things similar to zeplins since they can use other gases for lift = safer than hindenburg ship
And, pray tell, supposing for a minute this were true, how would this mean any saving in energy?
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well you donot have to reply upon fossil based fuels to generate the energy to provide thrust(which aerofoils depend upon to generate lift) and lift , you can stick in a few air heaters powered by electricity which can be generated by a fuel cell bank and or solar panels.
when i said gases for lift i mean the stuff that inflates the airship canvas/frame , hindenburg used hydrogen which ended in flames big flames
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>> virtual worlds which are powered by super high power computers that they are indistingustable from reality
ustilising some sort of neural interface to enhance reality
Oh, hmmm, ok… You mean I can have sex with Cindy Crawford? You mean we cal all have sex with Cindy Crawford at the same time? Cool… **
no i didn’t say that but with increases in bandwidth internet conferencing software can get more powerful and have flasher GUIs which makes traveling to your desired place rather pointless if the reality factor is high enough
Thanks Schnitte for the link to the Cargolifter site, Cool stuff. I wonder how much these things are affected by adverse weather though. Could they deliver a power station turbine if the winds were as high as 30 mph? Airlines don’t really have a problem AFAIK until the winds are much higher than this, but I think the Cargolifter would be blown all over the place.
Regarding video conferencing, I have to agree with that. It seems like I have to attend webinars about every week these days, and I think the first one was only about 1.5 years ago.