Alternate Fuels
|
|
Alternate Fuels |
|
|
|
Many fleets have specific goals to reduce petroleum dependency, meet cleaner emission mandates, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and begin pilot fleets that model their future goals. Fleets are expanding their use of hydrogen, natural gas and biofuels. Sometimes, they even save money in the process. BiogasolineBy John Addison (5/14/08). Oil soars to $125 per barrel and economies around the world sputter or fall into recession. Enough is enough. Many biofuels can be blended with gasoline and diesel refined from oil, then pumped into our existing vehicles. The new biofuels have the potential to encourage sustainable reforesting and soil enrichment. Biofuel 2.0 provides a path to fuel from wood and waste, not food and haste. Clean Fleet Report BiodieselDiesel engines are the standard for heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses. Biodiesel is a blend of diesel, which is processed from oil, and fuel from biological sources such as soy or food waste. Blends of 5, 10, and 20% biofuel are popular because they run in most current diesel engines. Look for wide use of B20 in heavy vehicles. Portland Oregon Fleet of 84EthanolWhen you drive a car, there is most likely an ethanol blend in your fuel tank. Ethanol is a fuel from a plant source that is normally mixed with gasoline. All U.S. gasoline vehicles can run on a blend of up to 10% ethanol (E10). Ethanol has the potential to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil. We are growing our own fuel. Ethanol—a form of alcohol—is the predominant biofuel in use today. The United States and Brazil together produce about 90 percent of global fuel ethanol. Brazil has used ethanol to reduce its dependency on gasoline by 40%. In the U.S., the vast majority of ethanol is processed from corn. Unfortunately the most fuel-efficient gasoline hybrids get far better mileage than U.S. flex-fuel E85 vehicles; these poor mileage flex-fuel vehicles are causing an acceleration of global warming. Time Magazine Front Cover Story From Wood and Waste not Food and Haste Khosla Ventures Papers and Presentations Ethanol, Energy, Greenhouse Gas Paper - Science Letter to Science by Michael Wang ButanolBP is spending millions running TV ads about fuel from sugar beets. BP and Dupont is looking for the type of funding assistance that is given to ethanol. They are also looking for millions of customers. Butanol has a much higher energy content than ethanol. Butanol can most likely be blended with gasoline in higher percentages than ethanol and run in non-flexfuel engines. Butanol may get transported in the same pipelines as gasoline. Butanol Facts and Links (PES Wiki) Dupont and BP Biobutanol Fact Sheet HydrogenCalifornia currently has 2,500 daily riders on hydrogen vehicles including cars, light trucks, delivery vans and buses. New California regulation will require major public transit operators to have over 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell buses in service before 2022. Early fleet adopters of hydrogen are often major users of solar power. About half the stations in California put renewable power on the grid during daylight hours, then buy less expensive electricity at night to electrolyze hydrogen from water. The least expensive stations get their hydrogen from pipelines or onsite reformation of natural gas. About 70% of the California hydrogen vehicles use fuel cells. The balance run pure hydrogen or hydrogen blended with CNG in engines. Natural GasThere are about five million natural gas vehicles in operation globally. There are about 150,000 natural gas vehicles in the USA. These vehicles consume 238 million gasoline gallon equivalents. That amount has doubled in only five years. CNG vehicles are popular in fleets that carry lots of people: buses, shuttles and taxis. CNG is also replacing coal as the number one source of electricity. PG&E Fleet of 1,300 NG Vehicles Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Replace 5,300 Diesel Trucks with LNG |
Copyright (c) 2008 OPTIMARK |