The EU Could Abandon Russian Oil Easily. Here is How. Hint: It Starts with an 'M'.

Oilprice.com has published a work by Irina Slav (There Is No Short Term Solution To Europe’s Oil Addiction) in which Irina pushes the repeated conventional thought that EU countries can not get off oil right away.

Of course, there is a way. However, that way would put into jeopardy 30 years of lying about man-made global warming by the World Economic Forum types who are trying to use energy restriction as a way to overthrow the existing order of sovereign governments with democratically-elected legislatures, replacing those with a neo-feudal order of multinational corporations ruling over billions of individuals through proxies of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) / civil society organizations (CSOs), which are in turn expressions of United Nations agencies.

The Solution is in the Solution

So what is the solution to get EUropeans off of petroleum products of disel and gasoline? The short answer is methanol.

According to methanol giant, Methanex,

on an industrial scale, methanol is predominantly produced from natural gas by reforming the gas with steam and then converting and distilling the resulting synthesized gas mixture to create pure methanol. The result is a clear, liquid, organic chemical that is water soluble and readily biodegradable.

Methanol is one of the top five chemical commodities shipped around the world each year, and unlike some alternative fuels, is readily accessible through existing global terminal infrastructure.

As a high-octane vehicle fuel, methanol offers excellent acceleration and power. It also improves vehicle efficiency.

Methanol is a clean-burning fuel that produces fewer smog-causing emissions — such as sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter — and can improve air quality and related human health issues.

Methanol is most commonly produced on a commercial scale from natural gas. It can also be produced from renewable sources such as biomass and recycled carbon dioxide and anything that is, or ever was, a plant!

So there you have it. Rather than idiotically shipping liquefied natural gas to Europe, which requires major infrastructure investments and much energy to cool natural gas to a liquid state, simply convert natural gas into methanol, which can be done easily in the USA.

This promo video is worth a watch.

If EU bureaucrats and politicians wish to free themselves from Russian oil without major disruptions to their economies, simply, the governments of the EU could subsidize engine gasoline conversions and embrace the methanol economy.

Already, it appears that shippers, including Danish Maersk, are pivoting to methanol (se: Maersk Embarks on the Methanol Economy. Forget Battery Electric Ships, the Future is Methanol).

Gasoline Engine Conversions

Conversion of extant gasoline engines can be done. That would cover about half of all cars on the road in so-called western Europe right now.

Unlike gasoline, which is a complex fuel of hydrocarbons and additives, methanol is a simple chemical. Though it contains about half the energy density of gasoline, it has a higher octane rating. That means properly-tuned methanol engines run more efficiently than gasoline engines. Thus, though having half the energy density of gasoline, less than double the amount of methanol is necessary to achieve the same power output. This is true even of modified gasoline engines converted for methanol.

Though there are problems with methanol conversions such as the cold start problem and gasket rot problems, these can be overcome such as mixing in volatile additives into the methanol.