ALT-3 What is Alternative Fuel
Alternative fuels have been around for over a century. Yet, they seem to be the latest eco-buzzword of our times. Somewhere along the way, we’ve all forgotten that gasoline wasn’t the first choice for powering our vehicles. Actually, these decisions were made long before my time and probably yours as well.
What happened? Long ago, the automobile was invented. Back then, they could run on many alternative fuels… corn ethanol, white lightning whiskey, lamp oil and electricity! As cars became more popular, fuel started to become scarce. The gasoline industry took notice and lobbied for gas powered cars. After all, gas was so ridiculously cheap…
Nowadays, gas is no longer inexpensive. We’re also dependent upon the gas industry’s technology and infrastructure. Gas has become a political weapon that hammers economies around the world.
At what point will we change over to alternative fuels? Well, we’ve done some good research and development, but a dream without action is still just a dream. At some point, reality has to intercede. You can’t change over to a new transportation economy based upon impractical applications. Alternative fuels can make a difference – we just have to be realistic.
What do we need to do? We need to get back to the basics. An alternative fuel is actually anything that can be used to replace gasoline, but to be practical, it also has to be mass produced and distributed in a cost effective manner. Achieving anything less than that practical goal simply won’t be allowed to happen because there’s only so much money to go around.
Let’s look at the big picture. For instance, cooking oil can be used as an alternative fuel. It works! And there’s no doubt that it’s a brilliant idea that’s environmentally friendly! You could pour your leftover veggie oil into a large barrel after every meal. Unfortunately, at that rate, it would probably take you over a year to create the fuel equivalent to a gallon of gas. And that would also involve cleaning it, distilling it, and storing it, and also having a very crude engine in your car that could run on it. On a national scale, the usage of cooking oil would be a disaster.
Cooking oil is an example of an alternative fuel that could possibly work on a small scale, like a household or farm, but is otherwise impractical. There are many alternative fuel ideas out there, but there’s not a lot of action behind them simply because they’re not going to work.
And, some of these ideas are very clever. Ever hear of the car engine that runs on water? Now that is a great idea! Virtually Limitless Power! It actually works! It uses a battery to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is used as a fuel, which is wonderful, but the overall process is horribly inefficient and wasteful. Again, some things that can work on a small scale don’t work at all on a large scale.
For most alternative fuels, you’d also need to create another unique infrastructure to support it. That is, special storage, distribution and pumping stations … these necessities don’t always mix and match between fuels. As for vehicles, the new technology would have to compete against the gas industry, which has had a hundred year head start, so only the most practical options for alternative fuels and vehicles can be considered for now.
The U.S. Department of Energy has defined the most practical alternative fuels as follows: biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, methanol, natural gas and propane. The pros and cons of each fuel are described below, but for more information, visit the DOE website athttp://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/.
Biodiesel is a biofuel, that is, it’s made from biological material, like feedstock and waste products. It’s often blended with regular diesel fuel, and, like diesel, it’s a major pollutant. Still, biodiesel is one of the most promising alternative fuels because the necessary technology and infrastructure are already 100 percent in place. In the near future, it may also become the cheapest alternative fuel - research and development projects have had promising results extracting diesel fuel from algae!
An electric vehicle gives off no pollutants, so, by itself, it’s a perfect alternative fuel. But, here are the points that most people miss about the power source: 1) the electricity is mostly generated from dirty coal plants, 2) the batteries require an environmentally-friendly disposal, and 3) replacement batteries are expensive. A half-step towards full electric cars are the gas/ electric hybrids. The public seems to be in love with the idea, so that’ll certainly help the industry grow. Hybrids are a great idea, but, in the long run, a cleaner method of generating electricity on a large scale is desperately needed.
Ethanol is often made from corn, but it can also be made from sugarcane, switchgrass or agricultural biomass. When too much ethanol is made from food crops, the prices of many other foodstocks are also affected. For example, if too much corn is used for fuel, not enough corn will be available for food, thereby making the prices go up as well for other food staples, such as rice. For decades, ethanol has been blended into gasoline, but by itself, it has a limited infrastructure. It is a favorite of the alternative fuel lobbyists because it’s all natural and almost everything is in place to start increasing its production, however, a federal regulatory program would probably be required to coordinate the food versus fuel balance.
Hydrogen is the ultimate prize in the alternative fuels race. It’s often made from water, which covers seventy percent of the Earth’s surface, so, obviously, it’s both accessible and abundant. Like electric powered vehicles, hydrogen is a perfectly clean alternative fuel. When hydrogen burns it gives off energy and recombines to form more water – sparkling clean! The difficulty lies with manufacturing hydrogen, for it’s a slow process that uses up electricity (again, the dirty power source problem). Storage is a problem as well. In its most popular gaseous form, it’s held in tanks pressurized at 10,000 psi. If a tank ruptures, the results would be disastrous - imagine the Hindenburg explosion on a more personal scale. However, hydrogen can be safely stored by the latest technology, literally held within a porous metal hydride and teased out as needed!
Methanol is often made from wood waste, but other bio-materials can be used as well. It’s easily manufactured, but, except for racing cars, it has fallen out of favor with vehicle manufacturers because it’s volatile, corrosive and toxic.
Natural gas and propane have established themselves firmly within the major trucking fleets. Long ago, the vehicle manufacturers realized that these vehicle fuels would compete with the vital home heating industry, so the large scale manufacture of common usage vehicles has virtually ceased.
Some alternative fuels are already in use. That’s great! All of them will provide some serious competition to gas when the gas price reaches the 4 to 5 dollars per gallon range. Federal and state governments are ready to help by providing incentives for the industry and consumers. Overall, we’ve taken some very good steps towards promoting the usage of alternative fuels.
