Tara Shirvani and Oliver R. Inderwildi provide a futuristic view of gas-to-liquid technology

摘要

The search for alternative fuels is relentlessly under way with 90 percent of transport fuels being oil-derived and uncertainty around depletion levels of conventional oil reserves mounting. Global vehicle ownership is forecast to reach two billion in the near future and climate change concerns, induced by anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, expected to rise. The central challenge involves the transformation of our oil dependent transport industry, as we face the so-called input problem of dwindling conventional crude oil reserves as well as the so-called output problem of increasing GHG emissions. Liquid fuels derived from gas, coal or unconventional oil sources may be able to offset the input problem of diminishing oil supplies, but will inevitably exacerbate the output problem of rising GHG emissions.