Reply #30: Not pretending to be an expert, but I doubt it. [View All]

but then again what makes one engine "better" than another anyway - different engines has different characteristics, and it would depend upon what values you were applying to the problem.

For example, you could say that a turbine can be extremely simple, with very few moving parts, so is superior to a diesel engine in that respect. An electric motor can be simpler than either of them, though. In any case, I don't think that the turbine represents an overlooked technology that might have saved us from our current problems. Its just another way of burning fossil fuels. Maybe it would be better than a gas engine, however, if you had to burn fuel in a hybrid car to charge its batteries.