In light of the much debated topic on rising gasoline and energy costs, some experts say new investment, in both alternative energy and conventional sources, will boost supply and could cut prices in half. If a global recession hits, the drop could be even more dramatic. Alternative fuels are designed to focus on energy conservation, clean air, soil and water. These fuels include biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, natural gas, methanol and propane. Globally, you will find many laboratories experimenting with these fuel options, and have been for many years now.
To get a clearer understanding of the origins of these alternative fuels, the Alternative Fuels Data Center of the U.S. Department of Energy defines them as the following:
• “Natural gas” is domestically produced and readily available to end-users through the utility infrastructure. It is also clean burning and produces significantly fewer harmful emissions than reformulated gasoline or diesel when used in natural gas vehicles.
• “Biodiesel” is a domestically produced, renewable fuel that can be manufactured from vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant greases. Biodiesel is safe, biodegradable, and reduces serious air pollutants such as particulates, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and air toxics.
• “Electricity” can be used as a transportation fuel to power battery electric and fuel cell vehicles. When used to power electric vehicles or EVs, electricity is stored in an energy storage device such as a battery. EV batteries have a limited storage capacity and their electricity must be replenished by plugging the vehicle into an electrical source. The electricity for recharging the batteries can come from the existing power grid or from distributed renewable sources such as solar or wind energy.
• “Ethanol” is an alcohol-based alternative fuel produced by fermenting and distilling starch crops that have been converted into simple sugars. Feedstocks for this fuel include corn, barley, and wheat. Ethanol can also be produced from "cellulosic biomass" such as trees and grasses and is called bioethanol. Ethanol is most commonly used to increase octane and improve the emissions quality of gasoline.
• “Hydrogen (H2)” will play an important role in developing sustainable transportation in the United States, because in the future it may be produced in virtually unlimited quantities using renewable resources. Hydrogen has been used effectively in a number of internal combustion engine vehicles as pure hydrogen mixed with natural gas.
• “Methanol,” also known as wood alcohol, can be used as an alternative fuel in flexible fuel vehicles that run on M85 (a blend of 85% methanol and 15% gasoline). However, it is not commonly used because automakers are no longer supplying methanol-powered vehicles.
• “Propane or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)” is a popular alternative fuel choice for vehicles because there is already an infrastructure of pipelines, processing facilities, and storage for its efficient distribution.
The transition from using gasoline to alternative fuels has not been an easy process, since there is still much experimentation on mass production. There is an alternative fuel station locator found on the Alternative Fuels Data Center webpage. It displays a map of your city and lists stations found on the fuel you’ve chosen, based on a certain radius around that city. The lists include the following information:
• miles within the radius of the selected city
• the name of the station carrying that particular type of fuel
• phone number
• address
• city
• state
• zip code
• type of access (private, government only or public).
The resounding cliché, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” clearly defines our call to find alternatives to the growing demand of energy consumption. Another concern for consumers is the affordability and efficiency of vehicles designed by automakers to operate on these alternative fuels or some type of converter to install in their existing vehicles to accommodate selected fuels. Although these alternative fuels may not win a popularity vote over gasoline, hopefully we will find a solution that will benefit consumers and be safe for the environment.
Kym Gordon Moore is the author of the eBook, “Alphabet Soup: 5 Main Ingredients for Turning Words into a Bowl of Hot Topics!” Many of her articles, essays, short stories and poems appeared in a variety of magazines, newspapers, ezines and anthologies. http://www.kymgmoore.com She is a creative marketing strategist for Moore 2 It Productions and coordinates cost effective, creative marketing packages for budget conscious new authors and new small business owners. http://www.moore2itproductions.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kym_Moore
Friday, July 13, 2007
Gas Pains
Recently I have been receiving the same old email that has been circulating the last few years about how to lower the price of gas. Though the intent of these emails may be noble in trying to help, it truly is in vain. Boycotting gas on certain days, avoiding the major gas stations all have little if any impact on lowering the price and may actually aggravate the situation rather than help it.
I sent out a list similar to this last year and thought it was time to resend it in hopes of everyone understanding what is going on with the price of gas. In no particular order here it is.
1. EPA mandate of cleaner burning gas. Their blunder of making oil refineries use higher amounts of an additive called MTBE. Now they find it pollutes ground water so it is being phased out. All this tinkering with removing and finding a new additive causes an increase in price and disruption of gas getting to the market.
2. Due to EPA regulations and small profits the number of refineries in the US has dropped since the early 80's from over 300 to a little over 130 today. Less refineries less gas available. No new refineries have been built in over 30 years.
3. Outdated refineries and limited storage capacity. Again EPA interference.
4. Mergers and buyouts of oil companies. Less competition.
5. Shrinking value of the dollar. Not only gas has gone up but so has everything else!
6. World demand. Oil consumption is way up not only in the US but also globally.
7. Depending on where you live, our government taxes a gallon of gas anywhere from 45 to 65 cents. That's outrageous. The stores on average makes only 14 to 18 cents profit per gallon.
8. The repeated disruption by natural disasters the last few years.
9. Civil strife, war and rumors of war in oil producing countries like Iraq and Nigeria (there is others) either disrupt production or drive prices higher.
10. EPA, Democrats and even some Republicans have stopped or hindered us from exploring and or drilling for new oil in key area's.
11. Bad planning by EVERYONE in America. We knew this was coming. Remember the scare in the '70's of the oil embargo that saw the first big jump in price for oil? We had all those years to perfect gasohol or come up with an alternative fuel and change our ways. Instead we were lulled into a false sense of security by OPEC releasing more oil which kept gas cheap and also shut down some of our refineries because they couldn't compete.
12. America is to spread out. Before the advent of suburbs things were centrally located in the cities. People keep building houses further out and driving miles to get to work and the stores.
Now this is ONLY MY OPINION but I keep hearing people tell me its 7 dollars in England and elsewhere, so what is the point? Is this also part of the global agenda to raise prices here to get America more in line with the rest of the world?
Something else you have to keep in mind, this is a natural resource, do we really know how much is left in the ground? I have heard estimates ranging from unlimited to 100 years and some people think we have only a 40 year supply left. If that's true oil will run out in most of our lifetimes. So what can we do?
Petition our government to allow exploration, tell EPA to back off and encourage more research and development into alternative forms of fuel. BUT what will give the best result is to ELIMINATE one day a week of driving.
Whether you car pool to work or combine errands into one day this will save a huge amount of gas. Other drastic measures that should be given serious consideration is to raise the driving age to 18 or only allowing 16 to 17 year olds driving privileges to and from work. I know this other thought may not sit well with my race enthusiast friends, but remember I also belong to a Van Club and attend races. Put more restrictions on all forms of racing, limit the amount of races held in a year and also restrict any new tracks from being built. You have to put things into perspective, what is more important, gas to drive to work and run our emergency vehicles, buses, plains, military etc... or a sport?
What won't work is the windfall-profit tax on oil companies which was first schemed up by Democrat Dennis Kucinich and now heralded by Barney Franks and other Democrats. The lunacy to think an added tax on an item will decrease the price! Our whole economy is based on profits. How do you expect a company to reinvest or expand their business if the Government takes away their profit? This Robin Hood mentality of taking from the rich and giving to the poor only works in Hollywood, in real life its called Socialism.
Lastly if you noticed I didn't include the Oil Companies of gouging. In my research I did find the billions of dollars in profits they are making. To be very honest I am not exactly sure how the oil is removed from the ground, sold per barrel and how it finally reaches us and the expenditures for each step. Maybe they are more to blame than I realize but I did read an article in the Washington Post that Texas based Exxon Mobil made about 9.8 cents on every dollar of sales. Is that an unreasonable profit? Let me explain it this way, Wal-Mart hit a record profit for 2005 of $11.2 billion. Can you accuse them of overpricing? Of course not. They achieved their goal by low prices and volume. Same with the oil companies. There is fewer companies today selling far more oil. Wouldn't it stand to reason their profits would be huge?
Carey K. Masci
Mom would get so mad and reprimand me as a child when I would talk back to her. She would say.... you have all the answers. My reply.. of course I do otherwise you wouldn't ask. This has carried on in my adult life as I have an opinion about everything. At times I tend to miss the mark in trying to relay my thoughts verbally but in writing, which is a passion, I seldom miss the mark of what I am trying to convey.
I write frequently for the Lake Gop, http://lakegop.blogspot.com/, I am also in the process of adding a blog to my website, http://www.gogobus.cc which showcases my travels. I have contributed small articles to The Lake County News Herald. People have asked if I would write bio's for their on line sites. I have folders filled with short stories I have written that someday will be edited into book form.
The first step in expanding my horizons was attending a class held by Author Mark Barnes (The League and An Ordinary, Happy Man) who led me to this site. My style convers all areas, politics, human interest, sports, travel, to the absurd and funny.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carey_Masci
I sent out a list similar to this last year and thought it was time to resend it in hopes of everyone understanding what is going on with the price of gas. In no particular order here it is.
1. EPA mandate of cleaner burning gas. Their blunder of making oil refineries use higher amounts of an additive called MTBE. Now they find it pollutes ground water so it is being phased out. All this tinkering with removing and finding a new additive causes an increase in price and disruption of gas getting to the market.
2. Due to EPA regulations and small profits the number of refineries in the US has dropped since the early 80's from over 300 to a little over 130 today. Less refineries less gas available. No new refineries have been built in over 30 years.
3. Outdated refineries and limited storage capacity. Again EPA interference.
4. Mergers and buyouts of oil companies. Less competition.
5. Shrinking value of the dollar. Not only gas has gone up but so has everything else!
6. World demand. Oil consumption is way up not only in the US but also globally.
7. Depending on where you live, our government taxes a gallon of gas anywhere from 45 to 65 cents. That's outrageous. The stores on average makes only 14 to 18 cents profit per gallon.
8. The repeated disruption by natural disasters the last few years.
9. Civil strife, war and rumors of war in oil producing countries like Iraq and Nigeria (there is others) either disrupt production or drive prices higher.
10. EPA, Democrats and even some Republicans have stopped or hindered us from exploring and or drilling for new oil in key area's.
11. Bad planning by EVERYONE in America. We knew this was coming. Remember the scare in the '70's of the oil embargo that saw the first big jump in price for oil? We had all those years to perfect gasohol or come up with an alternative fuel and change our ways. Instead we were lulled into a false sense of security by OPEC releasing more oil which kept gas cheap and also shut down some of our refineries because they couldn't compete.
12. America is to spread out. Before the advent of suburbs things were centrally located in the cities. People keep building houses further out and driving miles to get to work and the stores.
Now this is ONLY MY OPINION but I keep hearing people tell me its 7 dollars in England and elsewhere, so what is the point? Is this also part of the global agenda to raise prices here to get America more in line with the rest of the world?
Something else you have to keep in mind, this is a natural resource, do we really know how much is left in the ground? I have heard estimates ranging from unlimited to 100 years and some people think we have only a 40 year supply left. If that's true oil will run out in most of our lifetimes. So what can we do?
Petition our government to allow exploration, tell EPA to back off and encourage more research and development into alternative forms of fuel. BUT what will give the best result is to ELIMINATE one day a week of driving.
Whether you car pool to work or combine errands into one day this will save a huge amount of gas. Other drastic measures that should be given serious consideration is to raise the driving age to 18 or only allowing 16 to 17 year olds driving privileges to and from work. I know this other thought may not sit well with my race enthusiast friends, but remember I also belong to a Van Club and attend races. Put more restrictions on all forms of racing, limit the amount of races held in a year and also restrict any new tracks from being built. You have to put things into perspective, what is more important, gas to drive to work and run our emergency vehicles, buses, plains, military etc... or a sport?
What won't work is the windfall-profit tax on oil companies which was first schemed up by Democrat Dennis Kucinich and now heralded by Barney Franks and other Democrats. The lunacy to think an added tax on an item will decrease the price! Our whole economy is based on profits. How do you expect a company to reinvest or expand their business if the Government takes away their profit? This Robin Hood mentality of taking from the rich and giving to the poor only works in Hollywood, in real life its called Socialism.
Lastly if you noticed I didn't include the Oil Companies of gouging. In my research I did find the billions of dollars in profits they are making. To be very honest I am not exactly sure how the oil is removed from the ground, sold per barrel and how it finally reaches us and the expenditures for each step. Maybe they are more to blame than I realize but I did read an article in the Washington Post that Texas based Exxon Mobil made about 9.8 cents on every dollar of sales. Is that an unreasonable profit? Let me explain it this way, Wal-Mart hit a record profit for 2005 of $11.2 billion. Can you accuse them of overpricing? Of course not. They achieved their goal by low prices and volume. Same with the oil companies. There is fewer companies today selling far more oil. Wouldn't it stand to reason their profits would be huge?
Carey K. Masci
Mom would get so mad and reprimand me as a child when I would talk back to her. She would say.... you have all the answers. My reply.. of course I do otherwise you wouldn't ask. This has carried on in my adult life as I have an opinion about everything. At times I tend to miss the mark in trying to relay my thoughts verbally but in writing, which is a passion, I seldom miss the mark of what I am trying to convey.
I write frequently for the Lake Gop, http://lakegop.blogspot.com/, I am also in the process of adding a blog to my website, http://www.gogobus.cc which showcases my travels. I have contributed small articles to The Lake County News Herald. People have asked if I would write bio's for their on line sites. I have folders filled with short stories I have written that someday will be edited into book form.
The first step in expanding my horizons was attending a class held by Author Mark Barnes (The League and An Ordinary, Happy Man) who led me to this site. My style convers all areas, politics, human interest, sports, travel, to the absurd and funny.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carey_Masci
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