FXSTD – Alternative Energy Center

By: Thanate Tan
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.

People in general are becoming acutely aware of the degradation of the earth and that they have to make drastic changes in order to keep our world from being destroyed. The effects of conventional fuels such as fossils fuels are known to contribute to global warming, and the emission of harmful gasses into the air from petrol driven vehicles is having a severe effect on air pollution. Aside from this, the ever rising cost of fuel and concerns about the demand for fuel exceeded its supply, are mitigating factors for the need for 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 preserve our planet. There are a number of benefits to using alternative fuels. Firstly, 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. Secondly, these fuels can also prolong the engine life of your vehicle and are generally cheaper than conventional fuels. Thirdly, 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. It’s common knowledge that this relationship between countries has led to war and unrest. By countries manufacturing their own alternatives fuels, we can hope for less of this violence and more independence.

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.

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. We know that the daily use of conventional fuel is contributing to destroying our planet and I’m sure that everyone would gladly consider an alternative to that.