Alternative Fuel Sources

       Nowadays, people pull up to the gas station and pay fifty dollars to fill up a tank, which might last them three hundred miles. How would it feel to pay seven dollars and fifty cents to have that tank last for over five hundred miles. Alternative fuel sources like ethanol and hydrogen are the major transition the U.S. needs to get away from gasoline. Ethanol while being a great idea for an alternative fuel source through using corn, animal waste, or cellulosic plants such as miscanthus and switchgrass will not work. The reason ethanol will not work is because there is not enough room on the continental states of the United States of America to grow the mass of ethanol the U.S. would need. Another alternative fuel source and a much more viable option is hydrogen. Hydrogen is the least dense substance in the universe and the tanks compress the hydrogen to make it into fuel. The two most viable alternative fuel sources, ethanol, simply can not work for there is just not enough land to grow that massive an amount of crops, and hydrogen, which has the potential to get one-hundred ninety miles per gallon and for only seven dollars and fifty cents a whole tank.

       Ethanol has a few plusses to it but the negatives make ethanol an unviable alternative fuel source. Some of the plusses about ethanol are that ethanol has a lower carbon emission rate. Another plus about ethanol, ethanol is made from corn, animal waste, or cellulosic materials that have the potential to yield up to two thousand and seven hundred gallons per acre. The last and only other plus about ethanol is that ethanol is already here, we know how to use it, and we know how to distribute it (Khosla 1). These are some of the few plusses about ethanol. Ethanol, while being a clever idea for an alternative fuel source just simply won’t work.

       There are numerous reasons why ethanol will not work but the main reason that makes ethanol simply unfeasible is that there is not enough land for the amount of ethanol the United States of America would need. One of the extremely negative aspects of ethanol is that one point five gallons of ethanol is equal in energy output to one gallon of ethanol. Also, it takes more energy to make ethanol then one gets out of ethanol. Another reason ethanol will not work is because the entire U.S.’s corn crop would meet three-point-seven percent of the U.S.’s need of fuel for vehicles (Powell and Powell). Another negative to ethanol is that big users of fuel buy fuel in huge amounts of bulk and ethanol is simply not able to supply in that massive an amount that these users demand (Vaitheeswaran 1). Overall, there is simply no way that ethanol is feasible for the negatives outweigh the positives by an enormous amount.

        Hydrogen, another alternative fuel source, is the fuel source of the future, and there are no negatives aspects to hydrogen as fuel. Hydrogen has almost no carbon emissions and will help to stop global warming; there would be no carbon emissions if the whole world would use hydrogen as fuel. “Because hydrogen is the least dense substance in the universe, it must be condensed significantly to be able to supply energy equivalent to a comparable volume of gasoline. Compression tanks have been designed and crash-tested to address this issue. An average internal combustion engine in today’s cars gets only twenty seven miles to a gallon of gasoline. A tank of hydrogen, compressed at five thousand psi, would give a car a range of one hundred ninety miles” (Council 1). Hydrogen has the potential as of now to get one hundred ninety miles to the gallon compared to with gasoline around twenty seven miles to the gallon. Another reason hydrogen is such a viable source for fuel, is that hydrogen can be a fuel for everything. “The fuel for cooking, home heating, transportation, electricity, and production of goods and services comes directly or indirectly from the sun, the wind, renewable biomasses, or ocean energies. All of these energy sources derive from the sun. All can generate electricity to convert water to hydrogen. Either electricity or hydrogen fuel can be used for nearly any energy application” (Cashman and Logue 1). Imagine to be able to use one renewable fuel source for everything. Overall, hydrogen is the most feasible alternative fuel source to get the world off of gasoline and onto a better, more productive, and more environmentally friendly fuel source.

       The main reason alternative fuel sources are so important is because of the threat of running out of gasoline. Ethanol is one option for an alternative fuel source but is highly improbable to work for there is not enough land to grow the massive amount of crops the U.S would need. The most feasible option, hydrogen, is great, for it has the potential of one hundred ninety miles to the gallon and also can be a fuel source not only for vehicles but also for everything else. In the end, go hydrogen!

Works Cited:

Powell, James Jordan and James. "Biofuels Are Impractical." Opposing Viewpoints: Global Resources. Ed. David M. Haugen. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010139278&source=gale&userGroupName=atla10186&version=1.0>.

Vaitheeswaran, Vivaj V. "Biofuels Are Clean and Affordable Alternatives." Opposing Viewpoints: Energy Alternatives. Ed. Barbara Passero. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010220260&source=gale&userGroupName=atla10186&version=1.0>.

Council, National Economic. "Developing a Variety of Renewables Can Best Solve the Energy Crisis." Opposing Viewpoints: Energy Alternatives. Ed. Barbara Passero. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010220256&source=gale&userGroupName=atla10186&version=1.0>.

Cashman, Ty, and Bret Logue. "Hydrogen Will Be the Energy Source of the Future." Opposing Viewpoints: Global Resources. Ed. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010139248&source=gale&userGroupName=atla10186&version=1.0>.

Khosla, Vinod. "Biofuels Can Replace Gasoline." Opposing Viewpoints: Global Resources. Ed. David M. Haugen. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010139277&source=gale&userGroupName=atla10186&version=1.0>.