Climate change and humans impacting the environment seem to be brought up at every chance possible, and well would you look at that, it looks like one of those times! I know you have all heard the stories about how sooner or later we will need to use fuels derived from things other than oil, and those sort of things. Here are some of the oddest ideas to replace our trusty petroleum.
We could begin to use leftover oil from fryer vats (after it has been cleaned up and treated a little) it could be used as a safe and great smelling bio fuel used to replace diesel. This way. we not only power out cars with a renewable vegetable derived oil, but it also allows for a wide array of scented fuel. The cool thing about this type of fuel is that when it burns, it actually smells like whatever was cooked in it before. Soon in the future, all cars on the road could be converted to this without seriously changing much to the car outside of a different fuel delivery and management system. This would allow for a seamless and relatively inexpensive solution to the nonrenewable energy crisis.
Another form of fuel already being used in smaller practice is ethanol. This is gasoline derived from corn, and there are some unique properties of ehtanol that separate it from the above group. For starters, it is being employed in a larger scale of places in the country, but small in comparison to gasoline still. However ethanol makes a strong case, it burns hotter and with more energy than regular gas, so when a car's engine is set up to take this extra heat, it thrives. For example, Koenigsegg one:1 produces well over 200 more horsepower when running on straight ethanol, as compared to when it runs on conventional gasoline. The challenge for this fuel source is production and competition of sales. The farmers in this country can only grow so much corn without being at the mercy of the price fluctuations of just one type of crop. (Being as I live in Iowa and have lots of friends who are farmers, I am exposed to this dilemma quite often.) The farmers also cannot sell their whole crop just to ethanol producers, if they did the whole world would lose a massive amount of nutrition with the loss of a staple food. The other major part is economics. The ethanol producers will only buy corn at a certain very low cost to keep prices at the pump well below gasoline. In order for farmers to then make returns on their yields, they must then sell their crop going to grocery stores at a higher price. The farmers have to keep a delicate balance in place in order to stay afloat, and this unfortunate but necessary stagnation in growth is what is keeping ethanol from totally replacing gasoline.
Another major contender for replacing gasoline is electricity. Some of you may not know this, but some of the first cars to be produced ran on electricity. This was back in the days of when gasoline was a dangerous by product of Standard Oil's kerosene. But soon after the powers of gasoline were recognized, harnessed, and applied, the electric car died. For then at least... maybe a better term for it would be put to sleep for a long while. But all of the sudden BAM along comes the 21st century and innovation is bringing back the electric car. With many models to chose from ranging from the modest Nissan Leaf all the way up to the mighty Tesla Model S. Electric cars have come a long way since the Guilded Age of capitalist corporations, but they still have a long way to go. The largest challenge for electric cars is obviously range. Since you have a set distance you can travel due to the battery charge is so short, and the time it takes to recharge said batteries is so long, the Achilles heel to electric cars is the range. However, many newer cars have been cutting down on these flaws and I am excited to see what the future brings.
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