Audi invents new fuel that has no carbon foot print

The conundrum of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions continues worldwide. With carbon dioxide levels rising year after year, the world needs to find new ways to make power and drive the transportation industry without effecting the planet. Well, the German automaker Audi may be onto something. They have managed to create a new diesel fuel that is made from carbon dioxide, water, and renewable energy sources like solar and wind power. While this fuel does have greenhouse gas emissions, the total CO2 that would be released with the use of it would be the exact same as the amount of CO2 that is used in production. So the total gain for CO2 in the atmosphere would be zero.

So how do they make it? Well, to be honest with you, the process is kind of over my head too. But simply put, they break down steam into hydrogen and oxygen through high temperature electrolysis. The hydrogen then reacts with CO2 to produce what Audi calls "Blue Crude". This is then refined to make e-diesel fuel. Audi released a great infographic to explain…

 

This process is just in the beginning stages of production with current output capacity at just about 800 gallons. But Audi is expecting sales orders to start pouring in and that's when they will increase capacity tenfold. Hopefully this is just a start to the abundance of renewable energy that we need to cap our greenhouse gas emissions that continue to change our atmosphere, for better or worse.