First, there are many types of electric cars you can choose from, but all of them use an electric motor that runs on batteries that you recharge.  The more batteries you have, the longer you can drive your car.  Electric cars come in all different sizes and performances.  They are aerodynamically more efficient than gasoline powered cars because electricity stored chemically is lighter than electricity stored electrically.

Another very advantageous fact about electric cars is that they emit virtually no greenhouse gases into the air and thus run much, much cleaner than many other vehicles.  Greenhouse gases contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer that has led to global warming.  Electric cars that run on batteries alone produce no pollution at all and thus are very environmentally friendly.

How far can you drive on an electric car’s charge?  The amazing fact is that electric cars can usually travel for about a hundred miles before needing a charge.  The batteries generally need charged overnight and there is a gauge that can tell you how much power you have left.  They are perfectly fine for city driving and those who don’t have to go long distances on a regular basis.

This next fact about electric cars may amaze you – I know it did me!  Some people believe that an electric car can’t go very fast.  But the fact is that electric cars have been clocked at over one hundred miles per hour and can go from zero to that in less than nine seconds!  This is because electric motors have a very high torque which allows them to accelerate quickly and travel faster.

There are many more facts to be found out about electric cars such as their price, their range, their availability, and their benefits.  Finding out these facts is easy.  If you are thinking about buying an electric car, do your research and find one that fits your lifestyle.  Most car companies produce at least a hybrid type of electric car that runs on both gasoline and electricity, but you can also find total electric cars if you know where to look.  Just get the facts and then get on the electric car bandwagon.  You may just find out you like it there!

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Gasoline vehicles were also noisy and put out lots of smoke. The cars either had no mufflers, or the mufflers didn’t do a good job. So, electric vehicles were a big hit. At one time there were 50,000 of them on the roads and streets of the United States.

But electric cars soon faded away like the horse-drawn carriage. New ways to make gasoline cheaply were being discovered. A new invention called an electric starter was made. It started an electric car with a key instead of a crank. A gasoline car could go much farther than an electric one. So, gasoline-powered vehicles soon became the main method of transporting people.

Now that there is a push for cleaner “green” cars, electricity is once again being looked to as a way to help reduce greenhouse gases released into the air by gasoline and electric cars could be one of the answers to this problem. 

Electric cars don’t burn gasoline in an engine. They use electricity stored on the car in batteries. Sometimes, 12 or 24 batteries, or more, are needed to power the car. Just like a remote-controlled, model electric car, electric cars have an electric motor that turns the wheels and a battery to run that motor.

To charge an electric car’s batteries, the car is usually plugged in at night. Some electric cars can plug right into a regular electrical wall outlet. Others need a larger outlet, like the kind that a stove or electric clothes dryer plug into. Electricity, is then stored in the batteries of the car. 

The batteries can be lead acid batteries, like the batteries you find in our flashlight or in regular gasoline cars. Or they can be ni-cad (nickel-cadmium) like the kind that run portable video recorders or a portable video game player — only much larger. Better batteries that hold more energy and last longer are being developed. In 2001, by the time today’s fifth graders are ready to drive, electric cars should be able to travel 150 to 200 miles before recharging.

Car manufacturers and scientists are constantly coming up with new ways to fuel our vehicles in a cleaner, more environmentally friendly way.  The production of the electric car is an exciting one that is being embraced by more and more people every year.

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Bio-diesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Bio-diesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a bio-diesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Bio-diesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

Bio-diesel fuel is produced from any fat or oil such as soybean oil as an alternative to petroleum-based fuel, through a refinery process called trans-esterification. This process is a reaction of the oil with an alcohol to remove the glycerin, which is a by-product of biodiesel production.

Fuel-grade bio-diesel as an alternative fuel must be produced to strict industry specifications in order to insure proper performance. Bio-diesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.

Bio-diesel fuel that meets the industry specifications for an alternative fuel is legally registered with the Environmental Protection Agency as a legal motor fuel for sale and distribution. Raw vegetable oil cannot meet bio-diesel fuel specifications, it is not registered with the EPA, and it is not a legal motor fuel.

Bio-diesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act. The use of bio-diesel in a conventional diesel engine results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel. In addition, the exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates (major components of acid rain) from bio-diesel are essentially eliminated compared to regular diesel fuel.

Of the major exhaust pollutants, both unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are ozone or smog forming precursors. The use of bio-diesel as an alternative fuel results in a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are either slightly reduced or slightly increased depending on the duty cycle of the engine and testing methods used.

The use of bio-diesel fuel as an alternative to petroleum based fuel is really a step in the right direction when it comes to both environmental as well as monetary concerns.  It is safer, burns cleaner, and easy to make.  It’s a real breakthrough for those who use diesel fuel and a real alternative to regular diesel fuel.

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The switch by the DOD from conventional fuels to alternative fuels is one that experts have seen coming for years.  The DOD is probably the largest vehicle fleet in the United States and with the government being concerned about gas prices as well as environmental problems, having the DOD go to alternative fuel for its vehicles is a great move on their part.

This request from the DOD could really help the average consumer as it will boost production of alternative fuels and possibly bring them into the general market as a viable alternative to gasoline.  However, the request could have a major impact on the alternative fuels market if the military decides to move forward following the tests because the Pentagon is the single largest buyer of fuel in the country.

Under the possible purchase, the Air Force and Navy through the DOD would each receive 100 million gallons of alternative fuels for testing on ships, airplanes and other operational units. Those fuels would likely be blended with existing DOD fuel types in a 50/50 mixture or similar ratio.

There won’t be enough alternative fuels to do a 100 percent alternative blend for at least a decade according to the DOD.  But even reducing petroleum usage by 50 percent in this country is huge. What the DOD is saying is that they don’t want carbon dioxide greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere and they want to do everything they can to alleviate that problem.

Each of the military services wants to maintain its current single-fuel policy, under which all vehicles are run with as similar a fuel type as possible. DOD officials want to use 50/50 alternative fuel/gasoline blends widely for the service tests at first, with an eye to potentially retooling the ratio for optimum efficiency later on.  But that may be a problem as many engines will have to be adapted to accommodate the alternative fuel and burn it correctly.

With the DOD coming on board in the push to make alternative fuel less alternative, we may be seeing a real switch when it comes to fueling our vehicles.  It could be very advantageous to many people including the Earth’s population.

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Probably the most well known type of alternative fuel is ethanol.  Ethanol is often called grain alcohol as it is made from corn and/or soybeans.  Right now on the market is E85 which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.  Even though it still has gasoline in it, ethanol burns much cleaner than regular gas and saves on gas mileage for those who use it.  Ethanol can also be made from organic materials including agricultural crops and waste, plant material left from logging, and trash including paper!

Another type of alternative fuel is methanol, a cousin of ethanol as they are both alcohol based products.  Methanol is sometimes called wood alcohol and can be made from various biomass resources like wood, as well as from coal. However, today nearly all methanol is made from natural gas, or methane, because it is cheaper.

Propane, or compressed natural gas has long been used to provide energy to homes, but it is rising in popularity as a type of alternative fuel for vehicles.  Like oil, this common fuel comes from underground. However, natural gas, as the name implies, is a gas much like air, rather than a liquid like petroleum. It has been found to be one of the most environmentally friendly fuels, and its popularity is growing.

You can find another type of alternative fuel in the form of good old fashioned electricity.  In fact, electric vehicles have been around for a long time, and they are coming back in popularity due to environmental concerns.  Electric vehicles don’t burn gasoline in an engine. They use electricity stored on the car in batteries. Sometimes, 12 or 24 batteries, or more, are needed to power the car.

One of the most interesting and promising type of alternative transportation fuels is hydrogen. While mostly only experimental vehicles are operating on this fuel now, the potential for this unique energy source is excellent. Hydrogen is the lightest of all elements and is easy to produce which is why it is sending excitement waves throughout the alternative fuel industry as they next big type of alternative fuel that can be used in vehicles.

These are only a few types of alternative fuels and more are being developed all the time.  With a growing concern over global warming, the use of alternative fuels will grow in popularity over time and you will likely begin to see many other types of alternative fuels make their appearance.

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To begin with, alternative fuel is cleaner burning than gasoline which is good for the environment – definitely a pro rather than a con.  As we are confronted with many environmental problems these days such as global warming, many people feel we really need to take a moment and realize that it’s up to us to help stop these problems.  When you use an alternative fuel in your car instead of gasoline, you are helping to stop the release of counter-productive elements into the air.

Many alternative fuel vehicles also get better fuel mileage which is another pro over con in the use of alternative fuels.  Especially in hybrid vehicles, miles per gallon can be increased by more than 20 percent over a period of time!  That can make a world of difference to many drivers.

There are many tax incentives that can be found when you buy and use an alternative fuel vehicle.  The government knows that there are pros and cons to the use of alternative fuel, so they want to make it as attractive as possible to the consumer to make the switch.  Who doesn’t want to save money on their taxes?  If you can get a tax break, it can greatly benefit you and you’ll be helping the Earth as well.

As for the cons of alternative fuels, while not as numerous as the pros, the problems can be a bit bigger in the general mind of the consumer.  Alternative fuel vehicles are often more expensive than regular gasoline vehicles.  Even though you can get a tax break for buying one of these vehicles, you can still expect to pay anywhere from 10 to 40 percent more retail price for an alternative fuel vehicle.

The availability of alternative fuels is another huge con to offset the pros.  While many places now carry E85 fuel (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline), it may be difficult to find other alternative fuel types.  Even the stations that do carry E85 aren’t as plentiful as many people would hope and they often find themselves driving out of their way just to “gas” up their cars.

The pros and cons of using alternative fuels can forever be debated.  What side you’re on depends on your commitment to our environment and what you can do to stop some of the deadly effects of the gases we release from our vehicles.

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Classically, the hummer has been a non-favorite vehicle for environmentalists because it gets horrific gas mileage and uses more gas than a regular vehicle.  That’s why it made sense for someone to come up the design for an alternative fuel hummer that would be easy on the environment as well as the driver’s pocketbook.

There is a pioneer in the green movement to make a hummer that could run on alternative fuels.  His name is Tom Holm and he is with the non-profit organization Eco-Trek Organization who promotes cleaner air by using cars that burn alternative fuels instead of gasoline.  He decided that he was tired of his gas guzzling hummer and wanted to make it more environmentally friendly considering his association with Eco-Trek.  So he set out to make an alternative fuel hummer.  And he succeeded.

He now sells alternative fuel hummers that have shown to be very popular and selling at a really quick rate.  He “tricks out” his vehicles and makes them visually appealing as well.  He is highly thought of especially among the young crowd who want an environmentally safe vehicle that looks cool and can run on alternative fuel – that would be Tom’s hummers.

His alternative fuel hummers run on bio-diesel made from soybeans and corn.  They use less petroleum than a hybrid car and are capable of running entirely on vegetable oil alone.  That’s right, you can run one of his alternative fuel hummers on Crisco!  This alternative fuel hummer may be the biggest thing on the road, but it doesn’t use one drop of petroleum and gets 23 miles per gallon.

Celebrities are big fans of these alternative fuel hummers including California governor Arnold Schwarzneggar who owns two hummers that run on bio-diesel.  He recently had one of his hummers modified to run on hydrogen as well which emits absolutely no greenhouse gas which, of course, is great for the environment.

If you love the look of a hummer but want one that runs on alternative fuel, fear not.  The product is out there to buy ready made or you can one converted into an eco-friendly vehicle.  Keep in mind it will cost you some money, but when you consider what you are doing for our planet, owning and driving an alternative fuel hummer can be well worth the cost!

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Almost all major car companies have jumped right on to the alternative fuel bandwagon by manufacturing a variety of vehicles designed especially to run on alternative fuel.  They are called, of course, alternative fuel vehicles or AFVs for short.  Some vehicles are strictly designed and built to run on nothing but alternative fuel while others can run on either gasoline or alternative fuel making them a hybrid car.

As of 2006, here is a list of some of the alternative fuel or “green” vehicles manufactured by some of the major car companies:

Honda Insight

Honda Accord Hybrid

Dodge Ram Pickup 1500 Series

Dodge Stratus Sedan

Dodge Durango SUV

Dodge Caravan Minivan

Ford Taurus

Ford F-150 Pickup

Ford Escape SUV

GM Impala

Chevrolet Silverado 4 x 2

Chevrolet Tahoe SUV

Chevy Yukon SUV

Nissan Titan Pickup

Toyota Highlander SUV

Toyota Prius

And these are truly just a few of the alternative fuel vehicles that are on the market.  There are more and more being designed and manufactured every day.  Big car companies know that the wave of the future is going to be towards environmental friendliness when it comes to a person’s vehicle.  That’s why their manufacturing of so many alternative fuel or hybrid vehicles is a huge part of their business plans these days.

Now, you should know that even though it is a good idea to buy an alternative fuel vehicle these days, you will have to pay more money to do so.  Alternative fuel vehicles run anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 more than a regular gasoline car.  That’s why many states offer great incentives for those people who own alternative fuel vehicles.

For example, California, Florida, and Texas have allowed alternative fuel vehicles exemptions when it comes to commuting.  These places have commuting or “high occupancy” lanes that allow cars with a certain number of people in them to use them.  If you have an AFV, you can be in this lane even if you are by yourself.

The Federal Government also offers a tax break to those people who have purchased an alternative fuel vehicle in the year 2006.  For some, that is an amazing tax advantage and well worth the investment in buying an alternative fuel vehicle.

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The price of driving a car is rising at an alarming rate. It has become very expensive to drive a car, so people are looking out for ways to save money on their fuel. Scientists are developing alternative fuels that can help not only the environment, but also the consumer’s checkbook. The new alternative fuels offer advantages in so many ways that people are really starting to take a look at these as an option over paying astronomical gasoline prices.

When consumers use alternative fuels both to gas up their car as well as heat and cool their homes, they are helping the environment as well as helping themselves. The toxins that are released into the air when we burn gasoline and other fuels have shown to contribute to global warming and before we know it, winter will be as warm as summer.

In the simplest form, an alternative fuel is one that is not produced by using crude oil. They are simply fuels that replace conventional gasoline as a means of powering vehicles. Alternative fuels have desirable energy efficiency and pollution reduction features. The 1990 Clean Air Act encourages development and sale of alternative fuels.

There are many different kinds of alternative fuels – the most prominent one as well as the one that has been around the longest is ethanol. Ethanol is made from corn which is a great help to our farmers as well as to consumers and the environment. Ethanol is sometimes called grain alcohol. It can also be made from organic materials including agricultural crops and waste, plant material left from logging, and trash including paper.

The alcohol found in alcoholic beverages is ethanol. However, the ethanol used for motor fuel is denatured, which means poison has been added so people can’t drink it. Some people believe that producing ethanol takes more energy than it gives back and for the most part, this is true. However, technologies have evolved in such a way that it is possible to increase the efficiency of producing ethanol.

The growing trend toward alternative fuels will probably grow as we become more and more conscious of how we are damaging our environment through our habits and products we use. New alternative fuels are being developed all the time and having a choice will certainly be a nice alternative itself.

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