Alternative Energy

Alternative Energy

Name:

Course:

Instructor:

Date due:

Alternative Energy

The increase in the use of motor vehicles that use fossil fuels has greatly contributed to the increase of pollution and this rates are likely to go even higher in the coming years. According to Dooly, Fitzpatrick, and Lewis (2008) since the beginning of the industrial revolution has been a steady increase in the consumption of energy that contributed to global warming.

Admittedly, cars are not the only source of pollution because factories and other business establishments could be doing far worse due to the volume of smoke that they release in the atmosphere but pollution of any kind should not be tolerated and that is why I think the use of alternative sources of energy might just be solution going forward.

This background makes the case for alternative fuel sources even stronger and one of much touted alternative energy is ethanol. It is a renewable fuel energy that is made from plant material such as sugar cane, corn and grass and this is one of the reasons why ethanol should be preferred to gasoline. It will create a big market for farmers all over the world and by the fact that it has very little emissions that can pollute the environment. However, according to Farrell et al., (2006) the cost of production and transportation makes ethanol more expensive for use.

Another alternative energy source is biodiesel that is made from animal fats, vegetable oils and recycled restaurant oils (Crookes, 2006). The advantage of biodiesel is that is can manufactured at home and thus reduces dependency on foreign oils and it is also biodegradable but the disadvantage is that biodiesel that does not function well in cold climates and it doesn’t have the power as gasoline to power engines.

Hydrogen is another alternative and the good thing with it is that it is a zero emissions fuels and that means the widespread use of hydrogen would greatly reduce pollution but the darker side to this story is that the development and transportation of hydrogen is extremely expensive.

Reference

Crookes, R.J. (2006). Comparative bio-fuel performance in internal combustion engines. Biomass & Bioenergy,30, 461-468.

Dooly, G., Fitzpatrick, C., & Lewis, E. (2008). Optical sensing of hazardous exhaust emissions using a UV based extrinsic sensor. Energy, 33, 657-666.

Farrell, A.E., Plevin, R.J., Turner, B.T., Jones, A.D., O’Hare, M., & Kammen, D.M. (2006). Ethanol can contribute to energy and environmental goals. Science, 311, 506-508.