Help with alternative energies/fuels?!?

Question

we are writing a "bill"in social studies, and mine is:

"all public modes of transportation and buildings should use alternative energies or fuels"

then we have to support it with some facts.

does anyone know what exactly is going on with alternative energies these days? what happened in the past? what will happen in the future?

any additional info on alternative energies/fuels would be extremely helpful.

THANKS!

Answer 1

I see Agua-Luna.com -I LIVE OFF GRID- is back with his spam again, sigh.

I could see a lot of problems with your bill; first off what is an alternative fuel. Oil is an alternative fuel. I can use oil as an alternative fuel in place of hydrogen, alcohol, water power, etc. I could also say use a nuclear power bus. But I’m sure that’s not what you had in mind.

I would write your bill this way, “Any public modes of transportation or public buildings that uses renewable energies or renewable fuels produce within the boarders of the United States of America will receive 5% of the total cost of said system for 10 years or as long as said system is in operation whichever is less, or 5% of the cost of fuel, in cash, paid to the municipality responsible for said transportation or building.”

You will need to include what you consider renewable energies, for example solar cells, bio-diesel from algae oil, but would you consider a hydro-electric plant renewable? What if they used the hydro-electric plant only to produce hydrogen? How about nuclear?

Personally I would limit your bill to biodiesel, solar cells, alcohol, thing are truly renewable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

Answer 2

the web site www.ask.com and howitworks.com is very good at explaing things

Answer 3

I hope this will help: http://freefuelsource.blogspot.com

Answer 4

First, "alternative" is a dynamic word.  What are and are not "alternative" fuels and energy sources will change over time.  Right now, gasoline is a conventional fuel and ethanol is an alternative fuel (except in Brazil).  In the future, it will most likely be the other way around. My first suggestion is that you be more explicit in what you want your Bill to accomplish.

Second, your country isn't a dictatorship, and so your Bill shouldn't dictate from where people get their energy and fuel.  Typically, in the US, non-petroleum fuels are sometimes given incentives such as reduced taxes (but still taxed).  In the future, these things will become common-place, so no incentives will be offered.

Third, public buildings get their power from the same place everyone else does: the electric grid.  As for the vehicles used by government agencies, it is unlikely anything other than hydrocarbon combustion will meet the need, but more on that later.  Hydrogen will most likely be abandoned.

As for where 'alternative' fuels and energies stand, it depends on the type of fuel or energy source, and there is a lot to know.  Wikipedia tends to be a reasonable source for that type of knowledge.  Also, you can look at the materials the Wikipedia articles cite or link to.

Now, for a review of where things stand, and are likely to go:

What is happening:  Most of our energy infrastructure depends on fossil fuels, and there are two concerns; the minor concern of global climate change, and the major concern of running out.  Our sources of petroleum may only last another 30 to 50 years, and the impact goes well beyond gasoline.  As a bonus, running out will pretty much end the concern of global climate change, and do it long before we can 'destroy' the planet.

The future:  There are two issues, as you have observed.  A need for sources of electric power, and a need for something to power our autos.

All of the known methods of generating electricity are listed in the Wikipedia article.  Coal will probably be viable for about another 100 to 150 years.  Solar (as photovoltaics) will probably be quite common-place.  Nuclear may be around for several hundred more years, but the uranium deposits will run out.  Sustainable fusion is unlikely, although it could happen (if it does, it will dominate).  Wind (a form of solar) will also become more common.  Tidal generation still has questionable complexity.  Gas turbines running on methane may be around for a long time, if methane hydrates can be harvested, but these are on-demand sources, not mains.  Hydroelectric will remain at or near its present usage, and geothermal may be expanded slightly.

One thing you must understand; no one source of electrical energy will do the job.  Solar may dominate, but it will probably only provide half our needs.

Vehicle fuels are more complex, but not much.  After the petroleum runs out, we will have two basic sources: plants, and the electric grid.

Plant-based:  This will be ethanol, biodiesel, and bio-gasoline (for those classics still running).  Plant sources will never produce more than about 20% of our current fuel needs; however, the use of diesel-electric hybrids will reduce our fuel consumption.  In the future, agriculture may produce about 30% of our fuel (if people don't change their driving habits).  But this will come at an increased cost for basic foods, and higher susceptibility to poor growing seasons.  On the plus side, we won't eat as much soybean oil, and will probably be thinner and healthier.

Grid based:  Hydrogen and batteries.  

Producing hydrogen from electrical power is extremely energy intensive.  Hydrogen fuel cells are also extremely expensive, and future developments are unclear.  Many separate chemists, physicists, and energy experts have calculated that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will only ever be as clean and efficient as current diesel vehicles or gasoline hybrids.  It is extremely likely that vehicles in the future will not use hydrogen, due to its inefficiency and intense electricity guzzling.

Batteries are extremely energy efficient, but they have a limited weight to range ratio.  In the future, most vehicles used for daily commutes (less than 150 miles per day) will be either battery powered or plug-in hybrids (which are battery powered, but also have a combustion engine for long journeys).  There is also a promising zinc-air fuel cell technology which may greatly extend the range of an electric car.  Most likely, compact and mid-sized cars will be battery or plug-in hybrid, while SUVs and work vehicles will run on plant-derived fuels.

Public Transportation:  Public transportation is only efficient in dense populations, and will remain at roughly its present usage or lower.  It will also suffer the same problems as those faced by independent commuters.  Most likely, trains will remain electric, and buses and heavy-rail will use biodiesel.

A successful energy development policy with today's knowledge would be to invest into basic physics research (particularly in the sub-fields of condensed matter and nuclear).  Individual goals would include: abandoning the "hydrogen folly", developing new photovoltaic materials, developing new or more efficient batteries, addressing problems in current battery technologies, seeking alternate non-hydrogen fuel cell development, developing new ethanol production methods, construction of more nuclear power facilities, and design of large-scale solar stations.