The success of fossil fuels :
The huge success of fossil fuels cannot be denied : 25% rise in the last decade for oil and natural gas ; even in Europa, consumption has been rising between 2013 and 2019, during which time unployment fell sharply in Europa. Uncomparably easier to extract from geological reserves than coal, to transport, store and distribute thanks to their high energy densities, both mass and volume, they have been propagated in many everyday life uses and industrial activities, to the point that we consider them as totally common.
However, this risky venture must be interrupted : these energies produce carbon dioxide when burning, which, given the fossil origine of these energies, results the main greenhouse gas effects whose accumulation in the Earth’s atmosphere cause climate change.
Added to this, we still cannot controll forms of pollution : fine particles, heavy metals …
The “all electric”, new dogma :
To reach the new goal the European Community States are now setting i.e. carbon neutrality, at best by 2050, according to the IPCC recommendation, alternative solutions are needed, the most mature of wich is the electrification wich benefits by a better energy efficiency for many uses. Added to this is the advance made over the last twenty years by the deployment of electricity production from energy sources that do not produce greenhouse gases effects, a development increasingly highly publicized over a decade.
We are therefore getting into the « all electric » era, during wich the dominant energy carrier will be electricity and will tend to replace most of its competitors, as happened in the past. Previous periods : the « all coal » between 1851 and 1948, the « all oil » between 1948 and 1973, followed by a period without a single carrier since then, as the different fossil carriers keep developing in the same time .
However, the systematic generalization of this family of electrical solutions fails to convince : some uses will not be satisfied at best. This is true of some of the industrial activities, heating and transport. Multiple solutions compete to address these gaps.
The solution of non-fossil synthetic hydrocarbons :
Producing such clean energy carriers is now demonstrated. For a century, this as been a well knowns evolution and a solution allready famous since its inception for the qualities and benefits of synthetised products : no heavy metals, no sulfur, no aromatics so no dangerous fine particle emitted to combustion.
The energy carriers thus producered are mainly methane, kerosene, diesel and OME 3/5 but also gasoline and ethanol, propane, butane, methanol and many chemistry molecules. Indeed those many uses will not require major technological breaks which are always expensive.