Alternative fuels
Annotated Bibliography
Ramadhas, Arumugam S., ed. Alternative fuels for transportation. CRC Press, 2016.
The book gives background information on alternative fuel by stating that today, the world is facing an energy crisis and environmental pollution. The author asserts that these are the biggest problems that the world is combating since the demand for energy is high and the supply of petroleum oil and natural gas is low. Almost all of the transportation sector and automotive industry rely on petroleum products but recent research has shown that the petroleum products will only be sufficient for a few decades. In giving the background information about the alternative fuel, the author introduces the second problem the world is facing which is environmental pollution. He asserts that vehicles are causing air pollution through the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, and other poisonous gas. As these gases are released to the environment, they pollute the environment and cause global warming. Given that these are the most significant problems facing the world, the U.S have tried to control these issues. In the 1960s, it created and implemented laws to control the emission of harmful gases and supported the increase in operating costs. However, the increase in operating costs has increased the price of oil and some refineries do not produce acceptable fuel specifications. In general, the U.S or rather the world at large is still facing the challenge of short supply of fuel, environmental pollution and a higher price of crude oil.
The author asserts that due to the issues of the energy crisis, environmental pollution, and related issues, the world has a plan of using renewable alternative fuels to promote the energy security, automotive technology and more importantly, control the environmental issues such as global warming. Note that the transportation sector demands more than 67% of oil and the more the oil used the more the air pollution is the environment. The pollutants such as carbon monoxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons other gases and particulate matter have a devastating effect on the environment as well as to the health. The author asserts that to reduce the vehicle emission and air pollution, the energy researchers, vehicle manufacturers, engineers and other individuals interested in the area of alternative fuel sources should think about alternative fuel choices. The author divides the book into thirteen chapters. Each chapter contains important information about the significant problems of petroleum products and the need to shift to alternative fuels. the chapters do not only support the use of alternative fuel but they highlight the testing methods and production methods of biodiesel properties, alcohol in internal combustion engines, dimethyl ether production, liquefied petroleum gas, and clean fuel hydrogen. The chapters discuss the effects of properties, engine performance and how alternative fuel is a practical solution is associated with efficiency and environmental benefits. In writing a persuasive project, the book will be applied in my argument and it will serve an important giving the background information about the alternative fuel and reasons as to why the energy researchers should improve the transportation technologies and explore to build a cleaner future.
U.S Congress. "Replacing Gasoline: Alternative Fuels for Light-Duty Vehicles." Washington, DC: US (1990).
The book provides arguments offered by the U.S Congress on the topic of alternative full. The U.S. Congress offers an alternative perspective despite the world's strategy and the U.S in addressing the energy challenges and achieving climate and energy goals. This report is given by the Office of the Technology assessment and it introduces by asserting the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and others have promoted the use of alternative fuels to combat the air pollution and control the global climate change. The proposed alternative fuels are liquid and gaseous fuels such as liquefied natural gas such as propane and hydrogen. In general, U.S Congress refutes the use of alternative fuels by arguing that the power plants which produce these alternative fuels will pollute the environment through the emission of harmful gases. For example, hydrogen-fueled vehicles will lead to the emission of toxin such as nitric oxide (NO) and also Methanol is highly toxic and it had devastating effects on human health. Ethanol production is expensive and it is more corrosive thus damage the fuel systems. The book also provides important information that the suggested alternative fuels such as liquefied natural gas have already been used in Italy, New Zealand among other nations. In the U.S alone, 30, 000 vehicles use compressed natural gas and over 300, 000 vehicles use liquefied natural gas and a billion gallons of ethanol are used on a yearly basis. The research on the use of alternative fuel in the U.S finds that the new strategy is associated with high fuel cost. In addition, there is a highly developed technology that strengths or empowers the production and distribution of gasoline. This acts as a barrier to the production of alternative fuels since it is difficult to compete with the already developed technology and the availability of gasoline. Another barrier is the huge amounts of capital, engineering time in engine modifications, and consumers' resistance to change since they have used gasoline for a long period. These are formidable problems that will hinder the production and distribution of alternative fuels. Another thing that will be required in the alternative fuel is the manufacturing of vehicles using alternative fuel. There is a difficult transition problem due to low energy density compared to gasoline and this will result in low production of alternative fuel vehicles. However, this problem can be addressed by using dual-fueled vehicles or flexible-fueled vehicles or in other words vehicles with both electromotor and internal combustion engines. Unfortunately, the use of alternative fuel will remain a challenge since multi-fuel vehicles will be costly and they will not achieve the expected benefits of alternative fuels.
In offering an alternative perspective or argument against the use of alternative fuel, the U.S Congress puts emphases on the challenges in the introduction and acceptance. He asserts that ethanol and methanol require a huge amount of capital for pipelines, filling stations and other infrastructures. In addition to the high cost, the electric vehicles will face the challenge of high first costs, inferior range, and refueling capabilities. This will pose another challenge in the retail markets due to low sales of vehicles that alternative fuel. In general, alternative fuel is associated with many challenges due to the high vehicle costs, lack of technology development, lack of fuel storage space, among other important requirements. The author argues that it is important to consider all these effects that are associated with the actions. In doing research and writing the persuasive project, I will apply this source in my argument as it will help in understanding not only the new strategy of using alternative fuel but also the negative consequences associated with the actions. It is important to consider both sides in order to evaluate the uncertainties and the benefits.
Fan, Yueyue, et al. "Geospatial, Temporal and Economic Analysis of Alternative Fuel Infrastructure: The Case of Freight and US Natural Gas Markets." Energy Journal 38.6 (2017).
The article provides an economic analysis of alternative fuel to convince the readers the importance of shifting from oil-based diesel fuel to low-carbon fuel or in other words alternative fuel. The article also conducts further research to investigate whether the natural gas will provide fuel costs savings and if it is possible to supply the natural gas to heavy-duty trucking sectors that are geographically located. The article employs a modeling framework of special mapping and spatial network theory to examine the interstate highways, fueling infrastructures, and trucking routes. The author argues that recent studies and research on alternative fuel have focused on cost-effectiveness. The author introduces the arguments against the use of interactive fuel by stating that there is an interest of using natural gas in U.S transportation sector since it is inexpensive fuel associated with costs advantage compared to diesel fuel. Today, the production, as well as the demand for natural gas in the U.S, is high and vehicles that are increasing the demand are long-distance trucking and heavy-duty trucks such as transit buses and garbage trucks. There is also a high demand for new heavy-duty vehicles and this indicates that the demand for alternative fuel is increasing. Regions that are serviced by these heavy-duty vehicles suffer from air pollution and to address this challenge, there is a need for cleaner fuel. The article finds that by 2025, the total number of new heavy-duty vehicles will be 76% and this predicts higher demand for natural gas. Today there is only 14% of vehicles using alternative fuels but in the future, there will be a significant market for both vehicle that uses alternative fuel and natural gas.
In supporting the use of alternative fuel, the author asserts that there is a need for fueling infrastructure that would improve the distribution network and fueling stations. Note that in the U.S, there are 59, 739 and 121, 446 fueling stations for diesel and gasoline respectfully and these fueling stations serves 2, 542 trucks. On the other hand, there are only 800 and 59 fueling stations for compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas respectfully and they only serve 3, 600 trucks. Despite the gap, the article argues that there should be alternative fuels since they are less expensive and safe to the environment. In conducting research and writing a persuasive project, I will apply this article in my argument for various reasons. One, the article will discuss alternative fuel using an economic perspective in order to show the economic benefits. Second, the article will help understand the methods and strategy to apply in order to expand the alternative fuel market. These strategies include an integrated network, natural gas infrastructure, distribution networks, fueling stations, vehicles that use alternative fuel and other requirements.
