-Caveat Lector- End of the road for petrol cars says Ford BY JOHN INGHAM ENVIRONMENT EDITOR http://www.lineone.net/express/ THE world will soon be free from its dependence on petrol, a car firm boss claimed yesterday. Ford chairman Bill Ford predicted that his company would have prototype vehicles driven by hydrogen and oxygen on the roads within 15 months. He described the car engines, whose only emissions are water, as the car industry's Holy Grail. Mr Ford forecast the day when car ownership would be "antiquated" and consumers would instead lease cars only when they needed them. His comments, made in London at a Greenpeace business conference, are all the more remarkable because he is a great-grandson of Henry Ford. Mr Ford's comments have dramatic implications for the fight against global warming, which is widely blamed on emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Road traffic produces one third of all CO2 and is one of the fastest growing types of emission. But it would cause shockwaves in Treasuries around the world which have got used to raising billions through fuel duty. Chancellor Gordon Brown alone collects �22.3billion every year from fuel duties. The switch to hydrogen could devastate the economies of the Middle East. Oil firms said they were already working with car manufacturers such as DaimlerChrysler and GM on the fuel cell technology. An alliance of manufacturers, including Ford, Honda and DaimlerChrysler, is testing fuel-cell cars. The cells take in hydrogen from a tank and oxygen from the air. The gases are passed over electrodes which generates electricity. Mr Ford warned that there were "several significant hurdles" before the fuel cells could be mass produced. These included their size - they currently fill a car boot - and the combustible nature of hydrogen. Critics argue that the fuel cell may solve conventional traffic pollution but lead to the production of more greenhouse gases elsewhere. This is because of the need to pump large amounts of energy into any process that makes the hydrogen fuel.The energy could come from clean renewable sources such as the wind or sun but is more likely to come from burning fossil fuels. � Express Newspapers, 2000 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
