??What Are We Going to do for Energy??

Alternative Energy Sources

With all the hype about becoming a greener world with more energy efficient alternatives, one much ask: What can I use for energy? One very important place to start is motor vehicles. As Americans we do a lot of driving. This is due to the layout of most American cities, where it takes people anywhere from ten minutes to an hour to drive to work. It would be ideal to go Euro-style and have everyone walk to work, pick up their baguette on the way, but that is simply not feasible in the United States. We are all about big: big roads, big houses, big neighborhoods, big distances between places and of course, big cars.

   

A friend of mine  bought his new car with a diesel engine (even if the stuff from the gas station is tons more expensive) for the sole reason that he could use biodiesel. In fact, diesel gasoline is actually much more energy efficient because there is more energy packed into the molecules. They are generally 20-40% more efficient than gasoline engines. For a time in the United States, diesel engines were incredibly popular because the diesel was cheaper; then people realized they were smelly and loud. Today, researchers are attempting to come up with more efficient and popular forms of diesel. One of these, as already mentioned, is biodiesel. Instead of smelling bad, drivers can spread the joy of French Fries as they drive along highways. This should be an incredibly cheap alternative, and helps eliminate other wastes from the restaurant industry. Restaurants  would likely be more than happy to give away their used oil to be refined, rather than have to pay to dispose of it.

         

A new technology in the diesel world is the topic of a recent ABC News article. The article discusses using a diesel fuel cell much like a hydrogen fuel cell. The benefit of diesel in this case is that it is much more efficiently stored than hydrogen (which requires huge containers held at dangerous pressures) and takes advantage of the high energy storage of diesel molecules. When the hydrogen atoms are attached to the carbons of diesel molecules is much larger.

So... I urge you to consider a diesel engine. It may end up being cheaper in the long run, and until diesel fuel cells are massively produced, everybody loves the smell of fries right?