The discussion of energy has been on the news quite a lot for the past couple of decades, whether it is about how much it costs now to make energy to looking into alternative sources for it. One thing is for certain; oil is quickly losing its appeal as an energy source amongst certain circles, especially for cars. For some the concern is environmental – combustion engines running on fossil fuels are one of the leading causes of inner-city smog and global warming. For others, it is economic, as while it may be cheap now, gas prices are often erratic and frequently change. Other people still look for alternative fuels for cars for the long-term realisation that oil will not be around forever.
Whether it takes fifty years or five hundred, the Earth’s supply of oil and natural gas will soon dry up. This is a matter of certainty. So looking at alternative fuels for cars and how they compare with each other is really nothing more than an exercise in prudence. So what types are we looking at and how they much up to each other?
The Problem with Gas
The biggest problem with gas is that it is a major pollutant. Without getting into the mechanics of global warming, which requires several pages in itself, we’ll just look at the numbers. Collectively, emissions from private cars and trucks account for nearly one fifth of all US carbon emissions. If you collectively add all US transport emissions, including planes, ships, trains and the like, all together it will come up to 30% of all of the United States’ contribution to greenhouse gases. Reducing the amount of emissions that the USA produces has become a top concern amongst Obama’s cabinet, especially as scientists warn that we may be rapidly approaching the point of no return. Assuming we’ve not passed it already.
Even the production of oil causes damage to the environment. Off-shore drilling disturbs local marine life, and oil rigs and transporters always carry the risk of catastrophic spills that can poison stretches of ocean and coast for miles around. Fracking, meanwhile, has already been linked with earthquakes of unusual magnitude, in addition to releasing highly damaging methane gases into the air during its process.
There’s also the problem that gas, along with other fossil fuels, is a finite, non-renewable resource. Once current supplies have been used up, we either have to plunge deep and greedily into the bowels of the Earth to find new hidden deposits, which poses even more risk to our fragile ecosystems, or we must look for new sources of energy. It is in alternative fuels for cars that most scientists and policy makers now are banking their money.
Alternative Fuels
Alternative fuels are fuels that are based on something other than “traditional” energy sources such as petroleum. They are often used as cheaper or more environmentally friendly solutions to the more traditional gas-burning combustion engines most cars use. There’s a wide variety of different fuels that have been made available, from electric cars to hydrogen cars to cars that run on compressed natural gases. However, it is solar powered cars that we’ll be focusing on for now.
The Benefits of Solar Cars
One of the problems with many alternative fuels for cars is that their implementation can be expensive or difficult to pull off. For example, hydrogen cars have been highly criticised for just how expensive they are to run, and how difficult it is to make the technology behind them broadly available to the public, which has led to accusations of it drawing resources and attention away from more viable alternative fuels. Meanwhile, electric cars, at present at least, are incapable of travelling very far before needing recharging and have a limited amount of speed, which makes them impractical for long-distance travel. This is before we get into the difficulties of adapting our infrastructure to accommodate them.
Solar cars, meanwhile, utilise currently existing technology that has already gained widely accepted use within the public market. Many families now have solar panels helping to power their homes, and as time goes on solar power is only becoming cheaper and more efficient.
The obvious benefit is that solar powered cars produce no emissions, and their use helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. By using a solar car, you immediately reduce your carbon footprint by a significant margin. Likewise the energy they draw them is readily available all the time, and causes no disruption to the environment. Your car gains energy by sitting in the driveway on a sunny afternoon. Further, despite popular opinion, solar cars are capable of drawing energy even if it is not especially sunny. There just needs to be plenty of natural light. As for when it is truly dark, the car can charge a battery at the same time to be used during night-time driving. Its energy is safe, clean and always available.
As a result of this, the car has significantly reduced operating costs. As long as it is daylight, the car is drawing energy and charging itself up. The expense of buying a solar powered car, therefore, is paid back very quickly in terms of gas money. Unlike other alternative fuels for cars as well, solar panel cars are actually very low maintenance. There’re no exhausts or fuel feeds to get clogged up, and the solar panels themselves are very easy to keep in good working order. Just keep them clean, and the car runs like a dream.
Go for the Alternative
Car owners need to make conscious and informed decisions about the running of their car. We all have a duty to protect the planet we live on, and more specifically its ability to provide a home for us. This is, after all, the only planet we know of where we can live. Beyond that, alternative fuels are simply the logical choice. The truth is this: gas will not be around forever, but alternative fuels for cars will be. Solar power, as well as biofuels and electric cars, are the fuels of the future. It is up to you whether you take advantage of them, or choose to keep to a relic of the past.
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The writer, Christian Mills, is a freelance writer with a focus on green energy and topics of sustainability. He remembers, of course, that it’s not enough to simply have a green vehicle: your home must be green as well. To help with this, he highly recommends getting solar panels installed by a qualified contractor such as the one at www.bobheinmillersolar.com. You can learn more about Christian on Google+.
