Posts Tagged ‘Alternative Fuel’
The Real Cost of Biodiesel – Practical Use
When someone asks the real cost of biodiesel, the question is hard to answer. There is an environmental impact of producing the fuel, to some extent, and that can be considered a cost. There is also the physical cost of production to take into consideration. However, the real cost question may not always be answered obviously. Here are some interesting “cost” facts about biodiesel.
While one gallon of the fuel will be priced higher than traditional gasoline, the engine will perform at 30 to 40% better efficiency. Thus, if gas is selling for $3.00 a gallon, biodiesel should be selling for around $4.20 a gallon. This alternative fuel does not require extensive modification or replacement of the engine. If it runs diesel, it will run biodiesel. The fuel works as a solvent and will clean the engine. The result could be clogged filters, so changing those a few days after adding the biofuel is important. This will increase the “cost”. Oil is used as the base for this alternative fuel. If the oil is not produced in a green and eco-friendly environment – the end “cost” of the energy will be higher.
There is a whole world surrounding the production of biofuels. This world works in the same way it always has but running petroleum based engines and emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. If that part of production is not green, is the fuel really saving Mother Earth? Some companies are moving toward more environmentally friendly practices, but these steps are smaller than they may need to be.
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Ethanol cars work in a way very similar to normal gasoline cars, and are a great viable alternative fuel option because of current high gas prices. The only real difference is that ethanol car engines are able to utilize the biofuel ethanol instead of oil based gasoline.
Ethanol fuel itself is extracted from plants such as corn or sugarcane, and refined into an alcohol. This alcohol is suitable to be used as a biofuel in cars and other vehicles. Most hybrid automobile engines that use ethanol can also use gasoline, and are also called “flex-fuel” engines. The ethanol is injected into the engine in the same way as a non-hybrid automobile engine. Though ethanol gives slightly less miles per gallon than gasoline, it doesn’t create as much air pollution when it is burned.
The similarities between ethanol “flex-fuel” engines and standard engines make ethanol cars cheaper than most alternative or hybrid vehicles, because they are built in much the same way as a regular engine. Ethanol is actually cheaper in some cases than gasoline, and thus a hybrid that runs on ethanol can be less expensive to operate than a gasoline based vehicle.
Most standard automobiles can even run on a 10% mixture of ethanol in gasoline. Many gas stations around the world offer ethanol as an alternative to gasoline, and in some countries cars are required to run on ethanol.
You can find out more information about Hybrid Cars at www.prohybrid.com along with video news, reviews, and tools such as price quotes and an automotive loan calculator.
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gaeus, technically a modified Toyota Prius is one of the first of its kind to run on a mixture of algae based fuel. The company spokespeople have said that the car gets about 150 miles per gallon. Algae could turn out to be the biofuel of the future.
The Algaeus was premiered in San Francisco, California with plans to eventually drive it across the country using only algae based fuel. Right now the ratio of algae in the tank is about five percent but even that is huge strides in the right direction toward an alternative fuel source without negative impact. The algae are supplied in the form of green crude from a company called Sapphire Energy.
In the future, there will be more algae powered vehicles; however for now the company will continue to make an increased amount of algae based jet fuel. The goal is a production of over two million liters of algae jet fuel in the next two years. In addition, it will continue to make algae based fuels for alternative cars and other vehicles as well.
Any move that can change the way that the country looks at fuel and fuel production should be considered to be positive, however, the algae based fuel may be in the distant future as there are other considerations to keep in mind with this and any other fuel source. How will it be transported, and how will it be stored once it gets to different locations for instance. Are there any side effects to the refining of the algae for fuel? Are there dangers to consider? Will the car be eventually all algae powered or will it continue to only use a percentage of this green crude? What is the power capability of a car being run on five percent algae? Every question that can be answered in the present will have a new one to be worked on in the future it seems.
If the Algaeus does make it across the country, (the trip was meant to be from California to New York) there will be millions of questions that are likely to arise. How well the questions can be answered will be important not only for this type of alternative fuels, but for all others as well. For some people, any failure in the alternative fuel market might be a failure across the board however one minded that might be.