| With pollution an increasingly important concern as | | | | often harder-to-handle fuels, away from the average |
| worldwide energy consumption continues to rise, | | | | end user and into the hands of organizations with the |
| research into alternative fuel is at an all time high. Here | | | | resources to safely handle the alternative fuels. The |
| are some of the currently available alternative fuels, | | | | main problem with using electricity is, again, storage. |
| and what's still to come. | | | | Current batteries often require large banks to provide |
| 1. Alcohol Fuels | | | | enough power for reasonable speeds and distances. |
| Probably the most widespread alternative fuel is | | | | For this reason, electricity is still more often found in |
| ethanol. Ethanol is just plain old grain alcohol, made | | | | "hybrid" vehicles that use petroleum products to |
| from corn or soybeans. There aren't very many | | | | generate extra electricity when needed. |
| vehicles at the moment that can run on pure ethanol. | | | | 4. Hydrogen - The Holy Grail of Alternative Fuels |
| Most of the time, what is available are ethanol blends, | | | | Hydrogen is the most promising alternative fuel source |
| which is just ethanol blended with varying percentages | | | | currently under development. It is extremely clean, |
| of gasoline. At this time, the highest percentage | | | | producing only water vapor as an emission, and is one |
| available is 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline. | | | | of the most abundant elements on the planet in the |
| Methanol is also used, but is not as common as | | | | form of water. All that is needed to produce hydrogen |
| ethanol. Methanol is also called wood alcohol, and can | | | | is a source of electricity to separate water into |
| be produced from wood fermentation or from coal, | | | | hydrogen and oxygen. The biggest drawback is that |
| but is usually made more cheaply from natural gas. | | | | hydrogen is only liquid at extremely low temperatures, |
| 2. Natural Gas Fuels | | | | and extremely explosive when mixed with air in |
| Another alternative fuel is natural gas. This | | | | gaseous form. These characteristics make hydrogen |
| petroleum-based gas burns more cleanly than gasoline, | | | | hard to safely store and transport, especially in an |
| but still suffers from the renewability problems of all | | | | end-user safe fashion. |
| petroleum products. It is also an actual gas, unlike liquid | | | | These are only a sampling of the various types of |
| propane, and thus suffers from storage issues. | | | | alternative fuels available or under development. With |
| Propane is the alternative, and is a liquid when stored, | | | | petroleum prices skyrocketing, pressure to develop an |
| but still suffers from renewability problems. | | | | alternative fuel fit for mass consumption is at an |
| 3. Electricity | | | | all-time high. Many other possible alternative fuels are |
| Electricity is the focus of much research, because it is | | | | being developed and studied every day. In the end, the |
| not tied (from the consumers point of view) to any | | | | mass use of these fuels will result in an overall better |
| particular fuel source and produces zero emissions at | | | | quality of life on this planet. |
| the vehicle. This shifts the burden of utilizing cleaner, | | | | |