altfuelsys

Energy-Saving Strategies

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re already thinking about ways you can capitalize on alternative energy we applaud you – great job considering your impact on the environment! Here are a few things you can do to reduce your impact and save energy around your own home:
Consider Providers: Some energy providers are more socially responsible than others. Do your research on everyone from Reliant Energy in Plano Texas to the big-box providers to find out who is the most environmentally friendly of the pack.
Take Small Steps: Everything from saving water to changing out lightbulbs makes a difference at the end of the day so sit with your family to consider some small moves you can make at home to do your part. Turning off lights and even planting a vegetable garden are fun alternatives to using energy.
Make One Big Change: There’s nothing like one big change to kick-start your eco-conciousness so we suggest you start with something like buying an electric car or switching to all-organic food. It’s going to be a transition at first but if everyone made one big change the world would be a better place!

Making the News: Alternative Fuels

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

One of the biggest polluters on the planet is the modern automobile. The carbon monoxide produced from burning fossil fuels is not only unhealthy for the environment, but for humans as well. Scientists have been working on alternative fuels for use in automobiles, and there are many options to choose from.

Biodiesel is a fuel made from vegetable oil or animal fat. Typically, as a fuel, biodiesel is blended with petro diesel. If made from soy oil, biodiesel can reduce greenhouse gasses by 57. A town in Nova Scotia, Canada, have converted all their buses to run on biodiesel. Also, Disneyland has started running their park trains on 98 biodiesel.

The hydrogen fuel cell was invented way back in 1839. It combines hydrogen and oxygen over an electrolyte to create electricity and water. With no negative byproducts, fuel cells are the cleanest fuel. NASA used them in the sixties to power their spacecraft. Because of the research that NASA did, fuel cells have been used in automobiles since the ’90s. As a completely safe and clean fuel, it is truly the way of the future.

With so many options in alternative fuel, science is one step closer to saving the environment.

Fuel Cell Vehicles

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A fuel cell vehicle will help us reduce the need of the oil from foreign countries. They will also reduce the amount of harmful things being released into the air from the vehicles. They run on hydrogen gas instead of gasoline. These use a fuel stack cell that will convert oxygen and hydrogen gas into electricity which powers the engine. You do not have to worry about it getting too much or too little power because it has a power control unit that will take care of this.

It is compressed in the hydrogen gas tank which can let the car travel a further distance on every tank. It also has a high-output battery which is recharged by using the brakes. It will power a lot of electricity for the motor. These have an electric motor which runs a lot quieter than other combustion engines. It will also need less maintenance than other types.

One thing that poses a problem with these is that they cost a lot to buy because of production costs. There are many benefits that these vehicles can offer to us in the future. They are still being developed and getting everything worked out with them.

Flexible Fuel Vehicles

admin — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A vehicle designed to run on more than one fuel is known as a flexible fuel vehicle. Typically these use a gasoline blended with ethanol. In theory a flexible fuel vehicle can use any mixture of fuel, but it is advised to use a maximum of 85 ethanol and 15 gasoline this blend is called E85. Since ethanol is made from corn, the use of E85 offers a local and renewable fuel source. The EPA standards require that flexible fuel vehicles maintain the same low emissions regardless of whether gasoline or E85 is being used. In general, E85 produces lower emissions including carbon monoxide and benzene and other harmful emissions.

It is true, however, that ethanol doesn’t have as much energy as gasoline, and fuel economy is reduced by about 30. As flexible fuel technology matures, this may change in the future.

Since there is no obvious differences in the body design between flexible fuel vehicles and gasoline only vehicles, there are some ways to tell if the vehicle you’re driving can accommodate a blended fuel. Some manufactures have included yellow gas caps and labels on the fuel door indicating fuel types that can be used for that particular vehicle. In addition, many models include a decal on the body vehicle advertising it is designed to use flexible fuel.

Sweet Sorghum Biofuel

admin — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Sweet Sorghum is an ideal crop for production of ethanol biofuel. Biofuels are more often produced from sugar cane or corn, but using sorghum for biofuel can have several advantages over these more traditional crops. Sweet sorghum requires very little fertilizer,http://www.ncagr.gov/cyber/kidswrld/plant/label.htm, can withstand dry conditions, grows quickly, and is already widely grown around the world. In addition, sorghum biofuel is made from the juice of the stem of the plant and does not affect grain production. This dual use production makes growing sweet sorghum for biofuel competitive with cheaper single use crops. Scientists are currently working on improved fast-growing strains of sweet sorghum in hopes of producing biofuel crops more efficiently in the future. One variety of sorghum recently developed can reach 20 feet high in a growing season and yield more than 2000 gallons of ethanol per acre. With continued high yields like these, biofuel may soon make its way from fringe technology to mainstay fuel source. With oil prices rising,http://www.oil-price.net/ around the globe at astonishing rates, sweet sorghum and other biofuel crops could be a key to solving our growing energy needs. The cars and planes of the future might be powered not by petroleum, but by a humble grain crop.

Tesla: Out of the Gate and Running

www.altfuelsys.com — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors has announced delivery of over 1500 of its Roadsters worldwide (as of January 10, 2011) and view this as a major milestone marker in the automaker’s presence in over 30 countries. Tesla’s goal is to produce a full range of electric cars, from premium sports cars to mass market vehicles and contribute in driving down the cost of electric vehicles. It is currently the only automaker in the U.S. that builds and sells highway-capable EVs in serial production. Founded in 2003 by a group of Silicon Valley engineers who set out to “prove that electric vehicles could be awesome,” the Tesla Roadster hit the streets in early 2008 as a “car with no equal,” and two years later over 1000 Roadsters were out performing their emissions-free performance in more than 25 countries. Now, a year later, that number continues to climb. The company’s website affirms that “every Tesla and EV using Tesla Technology is a step towards making increasingly affordable electric cars available to the consumer” and their mission is to “increase the number and variety of electric cars available to mainstream consumers.” And what makes the Tesla Roadster a more viable contender than others? It “offers supercar performance without supercar emissions” and can drive 245 miles per charge with up to 295 lbs-ft of torque and 288 horsepower.” And get this: it accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. We say that acceleration matches the company’s growth, hands down. Keep up the good work.

Fuel Efficiency

www.altfuelsys.com — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re looking for a few ways to increase the fuel efficiency of your vehicle and also help save the planet at the same time, Exxon Mobile has put out these three tips to help you get the extra miles needed in today’s tough economy and green-focused world. 1.If you keep your car tuned up to the standards recommended by the manufacturer you can expect to attain an increased fuel efficiency of up to four percent per year. If that doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, it averages about 500 extra miles and that is a big deal! 2.If every driver in the US kept their car’s tires inflated to the standards recommended by the manufacturer 700 million gallons of gasoline could be saved each year. How’s that for a big number? You better believe that could have an impact. 3.By using the correct grade and type of motor oil as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, drivers could see an increase in their fuel efficiency by almost two percent. What that means to the average drivers is the equivalent of getting an extra 250 miles per year. Add that to the previous 500 and you’re on your way to a lot of extra miles, wouldn’t you say?

In The News

www.altfuelsys.com — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:34:32 +0000

Neil Young’s electric car started a fire at his warehouse in early November and it has sparked a fervor of interest in his pet project to restore a 1959 Lincoln Continental into a symbol of his mission to “repower the American dream.” Sadly, the fire was started due to “operator error” according to Young and it also destroyed approximately 850,000 worth of guitar and other music memorabilia owned by the musician; but according to an associated website he states that his project will live on with its goal “to demonstrate alternative energies for transportation that are clean.” His LincVolt car will be rebuilt under the guiding mission to “build a zero emissions automobile that eliminates roadside re-fueling entirely, a safe powerful automobile that is comfortable and economic on both long trips and the commute to work, an automobile that can generate power to the home when it is parked, potentially creating an income stream for the owner.”

Biodiesel: Some FAQs

admin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:08:28 +0000

Why is biodiesel such a hot topic? We’ve been relying on the dwindling resource of gasoline for nearly a century. It will eventually be gone. The beauty of biofuels is that they are made from plant materials which are (and will be) available in endless supply. Additionally, biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic (unlike its gasoline counterpart).What about the emissions? The short answer is that biodiesel produces less polluting emissions than petroleum products almost 80 less carbon dioxide than traditional diesel fuel. And since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas linked to global warming, these reduced emissions will effectively eliminate sulfur oxide and sulfate emissions two major contributors to acid rain. And last, biodiesel reduces the carcinogenic properties found in diesel fuel by almost 95 percent.How is biodiesel made? Most biodiesel being produced in the United States is made from soybean oil and recycled cooking oil (known as “yellow grease”) from sources such as canola, palm, and soy. Additional manufacturing practices include oils from corn, sunflower, peanut, cottonseed and some animal fats.So what’s the future of biodiesel? Well, since the manufacturing comes from renewal resources (as outlined above) future uses and applications seem almost endless. Current thought is that biodiesel will not definitively replace current diesel, but will be used as an alternative is situations where fumes from diesel may be toxic (school buses are a perfect example). Additionally, the EPA is currently looking at utilizing biodiesel as a fuel additive to help reduce the previously-mentioned sulfur fumes that impact greenhouse gases and acid rain.

Types of Alternative and Fuel Economy Vehicles

admin — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 15:08:11 +0000

With the increasing popularity of alternative fuels, it might be a prudent time to take a look at three types of vehicles that utilize alternate resources for power.HYBRID VEHICLES (HEVS) are designed to combine the best of the gasoline engine and electric motors. Additionally, they can be configured in a number of ways to attain different objectives whether it be improved fuel economy or increased power.DIESEL VEHICLES are making a comeback since they are more powerful and fuel efficient than their earlier relatives (an average of 35 more fuel efficient). Improved fuel injection technology lends to increased power and efficiency as well as improved acceleration. Plus, engines using biodiesel must meet the same emissions standards as their gasoline counterparts.FLEX-FUEL VEHICLES (FFVS) are designed to run on a blend of gasoline and up to 85 ethanol (E85), and except for a few fuel system modifications they are identical to their gasoline counterparts. FFVs have been in production since the 1980′s and there are a wide range of models available. Chances are you pass several every day without even knowing it since they look exactly like their gasoline-only counterparts.