Hi Sid,
Long time no post (from me , that is). It's always entertaining to see how you so adeptly bait the Ballard crowd, myself included! However, on behalf of us bulls, I would like to point out a few things.
The cost arguments you make are flawed. Sure methanol is more expensive right now, but it is not intrinsically so. The oil/gas infrastructure is in place, but since we have to look for oil to replace consumption, the exploration expense is perpetual. I am quite convinced that a fuel like methanol, that can be produced en masse, above ground, where we want (as opposed to where we happen to find it), will have a cost advantage. Hydrogen has a similar intrinsic advantage, although it will take longer to happen (I am not sure it ever will - it seems to me liquid fuels are a pretty effiecent way to store hydrogen...comments pro/con from chemists appreciated).
Costs of 20K - 50K for fuel stations is based on underground tanks, which will eventually be the way to go, but is not necessary to get the infrastructure in place. Cars that run on natural gas have to fill up from a big, above ground tank, which works just fine.
You know, 100 years ago you could have made similar arguments for the horse & buggy over automobiles. There was an infrastructure in place for horse and buggies, they were cheaper, more versatile, more reliable, less dangerous, etc. Who would buy a gas powered car when the fuel infrastructure was almost non-existent? Who would pay to build the infrastructure? It just won't happen! Well, it did, and today it is perhaps the world's single biggest industry.
By the way, you also seem to forget that, as I posted a long time ago, methanol is already available at some gas stations, at least here in Canada. It is called M85 (there may be other types, I don't know). Discussions with Mohawk Oil revealed that they have plans to make methanol available nation wide. This may be just "pie-in-the-sky" right now, but they certainly sounded serious.
Your best argument, IMO, is the competitive threats from alternative technologies.
Gald you are thick-skinned enough to endure the personal attacks aimed at you on this thread. I'll take a well-defended, articulate, contrary opinion to my own, over brainless cheerleading any day.
Regards,
Garth. |
