The balance of the natural carbon cycle disrupted by the large consumption of fossil fuels, in particular coal producing electricity, may in principle be restored by using renewable hydrogen. This paper considers the opportunity to recycle the CO2 produced burning fossil fuels with oxy-fuel combustion using renewable hydrogen as the second feed-stock. The product, methanol, is a transportation fuel having significant advantages over not only over hydrogen, but also gasoline, permitting much better fuel conversion efficiencies than gasoline thanks to the larger heat of vaporisation and the largest resistance to knock that make this fuel the best option for small, high power density, turbocharged, directly injected stoichiometric engines. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.