Alternative Fuel Analysis

As crude oil runs low and carbon dioxide concentrations increase in the atmosphere,
alternative fuels are being researched and developed. The most notable potential fuel sources
are: biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, natural gas, propane, liquid air.

Unacceptable Alternatives
As the climate crisis continues to worsen while hurricanes, rising ocean levels, and
drouths devastate atolls and continents alike unacceptable alternative fuels are being
proposed that would only exacerbate these issues.

Biodiesel, ethanol, natural gas, and propane are all hydrocarbon based fuels which,
when combusted, produces carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide is a
“greenhouse gas” and carbon monoxide is poisonous. On top on this, natural gas and propane
are mined out of the ground meaning that they aren’t a renewable resource.

Acceptable Alternatives
There are two acceptable alternatives, electricity and liquid air. Electric cars are
becoming more and more popular as time goes on, however, electricity just isn’t rainbows and
sunshine. There are two main problems with electricity as a fuel which come from one source:
batteries. The most common and most efficient kind of battery being used in electric cars
today are lithium ion battery, these batteries use lithium to store electrical potential energy.

Problem One
Lithium is a non-renewable resource and is contaminated as batteries decade
overtime meaning that lithium is extremely difficult to recycle. That is why very few
companies chose to recycle batteries and even fewer chose to use that lithium to make
more batteries.

Problem Two
Lithium mines/pools often use child labor to get lithium which is harmful and can
cause longterm side effects.

There is still hope for batteries however, John B. Goodenough and his team of
researchers have successfully created a solid state glass battery. This kind of battery is
safer, lighter, more efficient, and smaller all while note harming the environment with
toxic lithium. It will be many years until these solid state batteries have any chance of
replacing lithium ion batteries.

Liquid Air
There is one more kind of fuel that is promising, liquid air. Liquid air fuel is
currently used as a longterm electricity storage method for “the grid” but liquid air

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 Alternative Fuel Analysis
hasn’t been used for any kind of production transportation vehicle. The concept behind
liquid air fuel is that gaseous air is less dense than liquid air. If you heat up liquid air to
gaseous form then it expands ~870x causing a huge increase in pressure which can be
used to drive a turbine connected to a high input speed transmission.

Liquid air could be considered a form on electricity as a fuel since the fuel is generated
by electricity and is simply a different like of battery. There are two downsides to liquid air:
efficiency and safety. Liquid air is less efficient than just storing the electricity in a battery, and
having cryogenic fuels in cars isn’t the safest, then again, having gallons of gasoline under a
car isn’t either.

To conclude, electricity and liquid air are the two best options for alternative fuels.
Electricity is a great option, but lithium ion batteries need to go. Liquid air seams like a good
option even with its inefficiencies.

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