Just What Are Alternative Fuels? Some Basics

If you are discussing just what [tag]alternative fuel[/tag] is, there are two basic definitions that you can utilize.

When you are thinking in terms petroleum or fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas, alternative fuel would refer to some type of fuel that is different. A fuel is actually a way to store potential energy that is stable and also easily transported from its place of production to its place of use. Most fuels are potential sources of chemical energy that can be used to power engines or heat buildings. Anything that fit that description and was not a standard form of fossil fuel would qualify as an alternative fuel.

When you think of fuel from an environmental point of view, alternative fuel more often refers to some renewable or sustainable source of power. This would be especially true of some fuel source that was considered to be ecologically benign. Uranium when used for a fuel for nuclear energy would fall into some middle ground depending on the mind set of the person providing the definition. While nuclear power is an alternative source of energy, it is hard to consider uranium as neither a stable and easily transportable fuel nor one that is ecologically benign.

Regardless of the exact definition of alternative fuel, one thing is certain and that is there is an increasing demand to discover, develop, and put into common use alternative fuels. There are several reasons why conventional fossil fuels are falling into disfavor as fuel sources. It is these sources of unhappiness with fossil fuels that is causing this search for alternatives. One major complaint of fossil fuels is the idea of global warming caused by greenhouse gases released by the burning of these fuels.

There are also major concerns about the supply of [tag-ice]fossil fuels[/tag-ice] and the fact that some experts predict that demand will outstrip supply within another decade. The fact that the volatile Middle East region is a major source of fossil fuels is another reason for a quest for alternatives. The desire for [tag-tec]alternative fuels[/tag-tec] that are more environmentally friendly is being spurred by an increasing recognition of the problem of world wide pollution.

The bottom line here is that an alternative fuel is any fuel source that is different than what we have built our industrial and technological society on. This alternative might be something that is cleaner or it may be cheaper. It may be more readily available without stirring political unrest or unfairly enriching one region of the world at the expense of another. It may very well be something that has not yet been discovered or fully realized. The one certainty is that we will need fuel to provide power and heat.

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