The current dominant conventional fuels that are used include fossil fuels, petroleum, uranium, coal and propane. There has been growing concern about these conventional fuels, thus leading to the increasing demand for, and interest in alternative fuels.

The Pros of Alternative Fuels

Alternative fuels such as bio-diesel, bio-alcohol, fuel cells, hydrogen, non-fossil methane, non-fossil natural gas and vegetable oil are now well known and deemed to be greatly more desirable in the quest to to fuel our vehicles. There are a number of benefits to using alternative fuels. Firstl, alternative fuel-powered vehicles will emit less harmful gasses into the air resulting in less pollution. Biodiesel is also completely renewable as its primary source is vegetable oil. So there is no need to throw out used oil as it can be collected and refined. Secondl, these fuels can also prolong the engine life of your vehicle and are generally cheaper than conventional fuels. Thirdl, they burn more efficiently and will therefore help you save money. In addition to this, using alternative fuels will also help countries to end their dependency on foreign oil.

The Cons of Alternative Fuels

Although alternative fuels are becoming more and more popular, they are not yet perfected. Alternative fuel vehicles are substantially more expensive than conventional fuel vehicles and at the moment it seems that only the more affluent members of our society can afford these ECO friendly cars. Alternative fuels are also not readily available and often finding a gas station to fill your alternative fuel car can be quite a feat. As this technology is new, there are also few places that can service these cars.

Another reason that I don’t like any sort of “biofuels” as an energy source is that it will still adhere to economics supply and demand. If there’s a bad crop, or if there’s any other shortage in a biofuel, prices will rise.

This is a reason why I’m a strong supporter of alternative energy in the solar, geothermal, and wind industries. These types of alternative energy, although the technology is not quite there yet, is more predictable and more stable than any sort of biofuel.

I don’t doubt that we are still in for many years of debate on the benefits and drawbacks of alternative fuels. The most important issue however, has to be conserving the world we live in.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Alternative Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.