Does anyone know how many different types of alternative fuels there are?

Question

Also, which ones are cleaner and better all-around?

Answer 1

There are quite a few non-fossil fuel sources out there.  In no particular order, there's hydroelectric, nuclear fission and fusion, solar, wind, hydrogen, geothermal, and biomass/biofuel.

Hydroelectric is clean, but messes up river ecosystems.  Nuclear fission itself it clean (uranium mining not so much), but it faces big hurdles like proper waste storage and touchy politics.  It take a while to get a new nuclear power plant online, and decommission costs can be large.  Nuclear fusion would be a great, clean energy source, but it's not practical yet.  Wind is very clean, but unreliable and limited in where it can be implemented.  Solar is also very clean.  Once costs come down, it should easily power the world.  Hydrogen fuel cells took us to the moon.  The technology exists, but needs to come down in size, cost, and operating temperature.  The biggest hurdle here is infrastructure for transporting and storing hydrogen.  Geothermal is limited in scope, but mostly clean if done properly.  Similarly, biomass is also clean if done properly.  However, biofuels (specifically ethanol) is probably only carbon neutral at best and will starve people by diverting resources from food to fuel.

My ideal future would have a hydrogen economy, with solar and wind power providing the energy to make hydrogen from water.  Hydroelectric, nuclear fission, and geothermal power would have its small niches.

Answer 2

Solar is the only truly clean alternative.

Answer 3

By Alternative - do you mean other than what we're used to ?

If that is the case - here are some you WON'T have heard much about.

Sugar - there have been tests to convert sugar directly to electricity.http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/Ind...

Beer cans. Yes you can run your car for free using beer cans. It uses a catylist to convert Aluminium and water into Aluminium hydroxide - freeing Hydrogen in a cold - no added energy process.

Butanol. Bio-butanol is a high calorific liquid fuel - derived from fermented grass. Depending on the Enzymes and yeasts used, you can create alcohols higher in calorific value.  It is a direct replacement to petroleum.

Compressed Hydrogen. Not only do you get power from the immense pressure you can get (similar to compressed air cars) - but you can burn the gas in a secondary coupled combustion chamber - twice the bang for your buck!

Nuclear fusion.  This is not as dangerous as you are led to believe - do a little research on it and you will find it is a table-top experiment using Pyroelectric crystals and tritium needles. - Tig welding tips are thorium and tritium coated - so not oooober dangerous.

Don't forget efficient engine design - gas turbines are much more efficient at converting fuel to power than cylinders that change direction 7000 times a minute - just build a bigger turbo unit - stick your fuel in there instead - and chuck out the engine completely!

Almost forgot -

Electrostatic proplulsion. Nasa's working on it. Create a negative charge on a dome in front of you, and charged ions will rush around to release their charge behind you - creating wind, and a build up of pressure behind, and a low pressure in front. Alternatively - charge your roof, and you will fly ! - Research "ion lifters" to see something astounding!.

Alternative enough for you?

Answer 4

*  Ah, a two-part question.  

Let's attack the latter half first:

All are really clean if they're not spilled or vented; it's better not to have most of them "all around".  Some are messy; many are toxic.

As to the former part:

Yes.

Answer 5

    *  Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG, commonly known as propane)

    * Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)

    * Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

    * Methanol (M85)

    * Ethanol (E85)

    * Biodiesel (B20)

    * Electricity

    * Hydrogen

Answer 6

Hi Kiss123,

Alternative Fuels, also known as non-conventional fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as a fuel, other than conventional fuels. Conventional fuels include: fossil fuels (petroleum (oil), coal, propane, & natural gas), & also in some instances nuclear materials such as uranium. Some well known alternative fuels include biodiesel, ethanol, butanol, chemically stored electricity (batteries & fuel cells), hydrogen, methane, natural gas, vegetable oil, biomass, & peanut oil.

Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides & geothermal heat. Each of these sources has unique characteristics which influence how & where they are used.

Short but sweet that’s the specifics of it.  

Answer 7

Before we even answer that, we need a definition of alternative.

For instance is any fossil fuel an alternative fuel?

Is Nuclear energy an alternative or core current technology?

Do we consider coal, or its derivatives, an alternative?

Incidentally, some people will answer yes to each of those. Some people will say no, we are looking for alternatives to these.

Then we have hydrogen which is not an energy source, batteries, again not an energy source, EESU, flywheels, compressed gases,  and fuel efficiency ... all good ideas for some purposes, but not energy sources.

Is electricity an alternative? maybe, maybe not, but it is not an energy source.