A fascinating new alternative energy concept is being promulgated in the scientific community right now: the methanol-based economy. Its leading proponent is Nobel Laureate Dr. George Olah, originally from Hungary (he sounds a little like Bela Lugosi). He and his fellow researchers have developed a methanol fuel cell that can create electricity and, when reversed, will in turn convert industrial carbon dioxide into liquid methanol. Think about this: A viable fuel cell that will convert the destructive greenhouse gas CO2 into liquid methanol. Consequently, methanol doesn't require vast tracts of agricultural crops for its production. Put simply, it can be synthesized.

Moreover, methanol has none of the formidable safety, storage and conversion problems of hydrogen as a potential public transportation fuel. Methanol, Olah states, also has the chemical properties necessary to make it an alternative resource for all the industrial products now currently developed from hydrocarbons. This is a huge plus.

But don't take my word for it. Olah's new co-authored book on all these ideas is Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy. You can also hear his recent interview on NPR's Science Friday (with a rather antsy host) at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5369301

This guy is really, really smart, and his ideas are well worth pondering and discussing.

Progressively,

Mac McKinney