Alternative Fuel Sources.



We hear about alternative fuel every day but which ones are best for us both economically and environmentally?  

Types of Alternative fuels:

Biodiesel is derived from oils, whether vegetable oils, animals fats or even used cooking oils. Vegetable oils are sourced from any of a number of plants, the most common being soybeans, but also canola, peanuts, sunflowers--event cottonseed. Biodiesel can be thought of as being especially green when it s made from waste cooking oil, a process that turns a useful leftover substance into a value-added product. Producing biodiesel leaves no waste product afterward. Whatever is leftover can be incorporated into the next batch or sold as a by-product for channels such as animal feed additives.

Biofuels are derived from biomass: ethanol and biodiesel. These are fuels that able to be grown and produced from plants, and since they can be regrown year after year, are also called renewable fuels.

Blends are mixtures of traditional and alternative fuels in varying percentages. Blends can be thought of as transitional fuels. The lowest percentage blends are being marketed and introduced to work with current technologies while paving the way for future integration. For example, B5 and B20 (biodiesel) can be pumped directly into the tank of any diesel car or truck. Ethanol is also blended (about 10 percent) into much of the gasoline dispensed in the United States, especially in metropolitan areas, to reduce emissions.

Electricity is considered an alternative fuel since it is used to charge the batteries that power the motors in electric vehicles. Electric cars can also be powered by hydrogen fuel cells instead of batteries.

Ethanol is possibly one of the most well-known renewable fuels and certainly the most widely used by consumers.  Corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol production with about 20 percent of the nation’s corn supply going into ethanol.

Hydrogen is a basic element—remember the periodic table? The most abundant element on earth, it’s an elemental gas that is extracted from other compounds, not manufactured in the traditional sense like other fuels.
Most commercial hydrogen is refined from petroleum (natural gas), but can also be made by passing electricity through water (electrolysis). Although it is possible to burn it in an engine, sophisticated fuel management systems are required and just a few developers are devoting time in this area. Fuel cells that chemically alter hydrogen—not burn it—still tend to be the most efficient devices to create power from hydrogen.

Methanol (methyl alcohol) is an alternative fuel made from woody plant fiber, coal or natural gas; it is used primarily as a supplement to gasoline. It can be harvested from the methane gas in landfills in addition to fermented waste products such as sewage and manure.

Natural gas can be used as a motor fuel as either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). Cars and light trucks may be ordered from manufacturers to operate on natural gas, and can also be set up as bi-fuel vehicles: to operate on either gasoline or natural gas. A real plus—if natural gas is available where you live, a filling station can be outfitted right in your garage for convenient at home refueling.

Propane is also known as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and is a by-product of natural gas and crude oil refining. With an infrastructure of pipelines plus processing storage facilities, propane is way ahead of the learning curve regarding efficient distribution—especially since it’s so easy to pull up at thousands of filling stations in United States.  http://alternativefuels.about.com

Which one is the best? 

Electric vehicles are wonderfully efficient at stopping and starting, but are horrible at prolonged constant speed. Electricity is usually made by the burning of fossil fuels in this country, and electric production would have to be greatly expanded if were were to convert to electric vehicles or super hybrids.

Ethanol (E85) is horribly inefficient and actually destroys an engine running on it. It gets about 1/2 the fuel economy as gasoline when used in the same vehicle which nullifies any benefits it might have had. It also takes oil to make ethanol, with the most efficient productions only getting a 6% profit margin.

Biodiesel is the only one of the alternative fuels that is actually better for the vehicle. It gets better fuel economy, lower emissions and also manages to lubricate a diesel almost as well as the old high sulfur diesel fuels. However, a diesel engine cannot be started on pure biodiesel, it is nearly impossible to use in cold weather and it gels far easier than standard ultra low sulfur diesel.

Hydrogen is a wonderful idea, but nothing more. It takes far too much effort to manufacture in great amounts and it also requires oil to produce. It is also very hard on engine components~ water destroys most metals!

Gasoline electric hybrids are the worst in a long line of bad ideas. They're not much better on fuel than your average small economy car. For the price and problems they experience, its not worth while.