Motor Vehicles, Alternative Fuels and the Environment

As well as reducing global and local pollution levels we must try to minimise danger and inconvenience to others in the community.
Realistically, fossil fuels such as petrol, gasoline and diesel will dominate the scene for a long time to come and we must minimise the amount of fossil fuels that we burn (to see the arguments and the evidence refer to the sub-section on Technologies and Fuels, lower on this page).
We have gathered a few ideas as to how you can, as an individual, transport yourself more efficiently and considerately. To see our summary (or should we say sermon) click . Click on the image to the left and imagine trying to get a wheelchair or pushchair up that ramp!
Below is a link to ETA who amongst other relevant information offer some suggestions on the same theme.

The Energy Saving Trust Low carbon research and development grant scheme is supporting the development of new low carbon vehicle technologies that are typically 3-4 years from launch (pre-competitive stage) and 5-7 years from market launch (industrial research stage). The scheme aims to encourage collaborations between central government, technology developers, research centres, operators and private investors. It is also hoped that the scheme will help to meet the need to produce more low carbon vehicles, thus making them more readily available to consumers and businesses in the UK.

It is quite impractical to expect that alternative fuels can be comprehensively introduced quickly. The lengthy development of road transport has resulted in a plethora of sophisticated vehicle types using highly evolved engine technologies accompanied by heavily invested fuel supplies and distribution infrastructures. The factors which dominate any change are discussed in some detail in the article on Motor Vehicle Pollution, Alternative and Renewable Fuels .
As a result advances are taking place in those fuels which can use the existing infrastructures and engines (with some modifications). Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Liquefied Natural Gas, Ethanol and Bio-diesel are examples of fuels which allow the use of the existing systems and Hybrid Vehicles depend absolutely on traditional fuels. Hybrids do make a step forward towards electric driven road transport but for the time being we can't expect to have true purely electric powered road vehicles in abundance.
Not all the 'alternative' fuels are good for the global environment, a more meaningful test is whether or not they are renewable. Those that are renewable, for example bio-diesel and bio-ethanol, rely on energy crops and we cannot expect a total conversion to these because of agricultural limitations. In the UK (and many other countries) there is not enough land to satisfy the hypothetical demand, furthermore the essential natural bio-diversity could be destroyed.
It is therefore necessary that the replacement of fossil by renewable fuels is carried out at a sustainable pace using maximum variety of sources and technologies.

The Honda Insight was a 1st generation hybrid car combining a petrol engine and electric motor to give high fuel efficiency, low emissions and good performance, aided by lightweight body with automatic recharging of the battery pack. Superseded by the 1.3l Insight IMA and 1.4l Civic IMA .

The Toyota Prius, launched in Japan in 1997, is a mass-marketed hybrid vehicle, powered by a combination of batteries and petrol; the batteries are automatically recharged whilst the car is running .

Straight away, lets say we aren't impressed with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or its siblings, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). They are, by definition, fossil fuels and thus release, one way or another, sequestered greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Having said that, they do genuinely produce much less tailpipe pollution and have the advantage of usually being considerably cheaper per mile to run, especially in the UK where users can benefit from government grants, reduced excise duties and other charges. Many vehicles using these gases are dual fuel and there is a reasonable network of filling stations, particularly for LPG; as a result they are practical and are 'here and now'.
They are produced to be used in the two dominant internal combustion engine technologies; spark ignition and compression ignition. Although capable of working in either type of engine there are practical factors which may limit their application to one or the other. Broadly speaking LPG is compatible with petrol (gasoline) engines and LNG and CNG with heavy diesel vehicles.
For our reference article on LPG, LNG and CNG click here .
Also see the LPG section on our Alternative Energy page.
Below are some informative links which in general concentrate on low cost and tailpipe pollution but rarely mention global warming.

D1 Oils is a British company which recognises the increasing demand for biodiesel and aims to become a global, sustainable, low cost supplier of crude vegetable oil and biodiesel refiner. It has developed plantation rights and established refinery operations in several international regions, creating a supply chain from seed selection through to the sale of biodiesel to end users. Currently it has four operations centred in the UK, South Africa, Asia Pacific and India. There are also projects in Madagascar and Saudi Arabia.
The main plant source is the Jatropha tree which can grow in desert areas with a minimum requirement for water. Sounds to us like an admirable project that needs supporting. Why not visit their site?