Welcome to Guide To Alternative Energy
Alternative Energy Article
This is a selection among article about Alternative Energy. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Alternative Energy Sources for Cars: What the Future Holds
from:At the height of the muscle car era, oil was believed to be limitless. But after the discovery in the 70’s that there was a finite supply of oil in the world (and it left the word shocked), the dream of cheap gas prices died forever. The effects were massive, including the failure of several car manufacturers and a great downsizing of engines and body sizes. Unfortunately, this didn't solve the problem of expensive oil and or slow down the rate of oil extinction. Tthe problem is now getting worse as oil prices continue to skyrocket to record heights.
This has prompted a great demand to find alternative energy sources to run cars will resources other than gas, petroleum or oil. The question right now is: What are the forms of alternative energy suitable to run cars?
First let’s get to the facts.
Alternative energy sources may come in the form of water (tidal, hydroelectric, and wave energy), air, biomass or waste material, sun and earth. But these only make up 10% of the total energy consumption in the United States. 88% of power is drawn from nuclear, coal and natural gas. The remaining 2% comes from oil.
Meanwhile, all vehicles, trucks, cars and SUVs are powered mainly by oil or fuel such as diesel and gas. However, buses today are starting to convert into the use of natural gases such as bio-diesel, vegetable oil, methanol and ethanol. These natural gases are often referred to as non-oil fuels. So, it may be logical to covert cars into moving wind turbines or mobile solar cells only to end the need to use the usual gas or oil. But, it would not solve the problem if we're aiming for long term benefits.
So where are we heading?
The fact is: direct application of alternative energy can not be used for cars. So, instead of solar panels and wind turbines, what should we use? The answer: hydrogen.In fact, it is already being used by some cars today. Hydrogen-powered cars as they call them, use hydrogen as a main source of power.
So where is alternative energy involved? Hydrogen is not a raw material. It should be extracted from other resources. These resources are water, biomass, coal and natural gas (methane). Today, the most favorable source of hydrogen, water and fuel cells, are being installed on several car prototypes.
The process of extracting hydrogen molecule differs from one source to another, but in general, electricity is needed to separate hydrogen from other elements.
Now we go to the future. The population has grown and there's been a significant increase in the demand for power and energy. This time around, hydrogen-powered vehicles are very abundant. But, it doesn't guarantee that the hydrogen-powered vehicles will last for long. They may last for several decades as fuel-powered cars did, but it may also come to a quick end.
So, we continue to seek other alternative energy source for our cars. Who knows, future drivers may only need one piece of solar cell to go for many miles. Or may a single wind turbine will be able to generate enough power to run the vehicle for miles.
Right now we have to concentrate on dealing with our present problem, which is to find alternative energy sources to run our cars. We might already be solving this, but the task is still large, but the solution is certainly achievable.
Alternative Energy News
No relevant info was found on this topic.