The car industry is trying to save the combustion engine. Their best bet: synthetic fuels. They're hailed as being carbon neutral and the quickest way to get old cars off fossil fuels. Sounds great? Well, if you look closer, synthetic fuels are the worst way to decarbonize individual transport. 

Reporter: Kai Steinecke
Video Editor: Nils Reinecke 
Supervising Editor: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann 
 
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#PlanetA #eFuel #ClimateChange 

Read More:
Overall assessment of eFuels: https://www.agora-energiewende.de/fileadmin/Projekte/2017/SynKost_2050/Agora_SynKost_Study_EN_WEB.pdf 

Efficiency of eFuels: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235248471830266X# 

Potential risks of hydrogen-based e-fuels in climate change mititgation https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01032-7 

Costs of eFuels: https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/Electrofuels_Fact_Sheet_20181005.pdf 

The energy density advantage: https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/synthetic-fuels/synthetic-fuels-briefing.pdf 

Special Thanks to Severin Hänggi and Roland Dittmeyer for their valuable insight to eFuel production and efficiency.  

Chapters:
0:00 The Promise 
0:39 Producing eFuels 
1:59 Cost Problem 
2:55 Competition for Renewable Energy 
4:43 eFuel’s Inefficiency 
6:42 Little Availability 
7:17 Application Areas 
8:48 Conclusion