Sciencealert.com reported today in an article that Audi has produced an e-fuel that is carbon-neutral. This means that the energy and resources required to produce the e-fuel does not contribute to additional carbon to the atmosphere through the use of conventional fuels. That's great news for the sustainable energy and auto industry which has been slow to adapt to impact of using fossil fuels and environment impact of using such fuels.Audi accomplishes this carbon-neutral threshold by using "green power" to drive the production of the e-fuel. Audi describes the source as "green power" in what can be assumed to be current sustainable power generation methods like wind, solar or geothermal. The article in Audi MediaServices did not provide details on the type of power generation used. The process promises to take advantage of spikes in the variable power generation that is a common problem for energy sources like wind and solar. Nonetheless, this is a promising technology in which the energy production process is tied to sustainable practices from the very beginning. One of the critiques of current production methods for alernative energy is that materials used and power consumed during the process is still carbon-intensive.
Something else that is promsing of the e-fuel is that it can power conventional cars with fuel that is carbon-neutral.While hybrid cars are commonplace in the auto industry and among consumers, they do not address the need for fossil fuels. Hybrids have increased the efficiency of cars, but are not solving the problem of the diminishing supply of diesel. The e-fuel is providing an alternative that will not run out.
All said, this is another approach to address the problem of fossil fuels. It is not renewable. With the integration of renewable energy sources to produce fuel for cars, Audi and other pioneers are finding solutions to our current problems without throwing out all our requirements altogether. We don't have to all stop driving cars to reduce carbon pollution.
