Alternative Fuel and New Ideas for Compressed Natural Gas

Will Alternative Fuel Vehicles Actually Save You Money?

Energy prices have been a serious topic of discussion in this country for decades, and the dialogue tends to become more animated whenever the price of gasoline rises dramatically over a short period of time. With oil prices reaching new record highs almost daily, large segments of society must suddenly decide between gasoline or groceries when it comes to sticking to the weekly budget. It’s at times such as these when many individuals turn their thinking towards the often misunderstood option of alternative fuel vehicles.

Alternative Fuel Vehicles Or Alternative Fuels

For The Vehicles We Already Have?

Alternative fuel vehicles, for the most part, are cars and trucks that are already on the road. These vehicles are equipped with standard internal combustion engines that can run on certain types of alternative fuels, while other cars or trucks may have had their engine modified to allow the use of these fuels. The question now is: Can alternative fuel vehicles actually save you money? To answer that question, we must first ask:

What Are These Alternative Fuels?

When discussing alternative fuel vehicles, the dialogue tends to center around five major fuel sources:

• Ethanol: Made from domestically grown corn—a renewable resource—cleaner burning with fewer harmful emissions, but ethanol is expensive to produce and does not result in significant savings at the pump.
• Biodiesel: This alternative fuel is produced from vegetable oils, animal fats, and cooking grease from restaurants. Biodiesel is a renewable resource that is non-toxic and burns with fewer harmful emissions, but the fuel is more expensive, is not readily available, and can result in poor engine performance and efficiency.
• Hydrogen: Hydrogen fuel use holds great potential, but the exciting technology is still undeveloped. Hydrogen fuel is expensive, not readily available to consumers, and can only be used in costly and highly specialized vehicles that are not available to the average driver.
• Propane: This clean burning and highly efficient fuel is also known as liquefied petroleum gas or LPG. This fuel can be domestically produced and is less expensive than gasoline, but it is not readily available and no US vehicles are currently being manufactured for LPG fuel use.
• Natural Gas: One of the cleanest burning of all the alternative fuels and less expensive than gasoline. Natural gas comes chiefly from domestic sources and is marketed in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). This fuel must be used in CNG or LNG dedicated vehicles that are not mass produced in the US, and the fuel is not readily available to most drivers.

When it comes to alternative fuels today, practical opportunities for savings at the pump are hard to find. New vehicle engineering and alternative fuel development technologies hold great promise, but scientific advancements in any field can take years to develop before they’re finally brought to market, and only time will tell if alternative fuel vehicles will fulfill the promise of a brighter energy future for us all.