Perhaps the most ignored fact in our energy-environment discussion is the non-stop evolution of fossil fuel technologies, energy sources that have now been somehow deemed Public Enemy #1, despite the fact that they supply over 80% of the energy used in the world’s richest economies with the healthiest people. While it’s indeed true that renewables continue to evolve, it’s also just as true that fossil fuel technologies are constantly evolving as well. In fact, the U.S. shale oil and natural gas revolution since 2008 – the most important energy development since WWII – is a perfect example of this. And the goal of course, is to increasingly deploy better fossil fuel technologies that lower our greenhouse gas emissions and abate climate change.
The problem for the anti-fossil fuel business is that this non-stop technological evolution explains why fossil fuels “aren’t going away anytime soon.”
. . .Current research is focused on lowering emissions from internal combustion engines even more. Improving efficiency is the most promising and cost-effective approach. According to Corning researchers, emission control technology is delivering clean vehicles:
NOx control: is achieving 98% reductions
Particular Matter: can be essentially eliminated from vehicles
CO2 emissions: potential 70-100% carbon-free petroleum and negative CO2 vehicles