The Ford Motor Company is currently exerting much effort in promoting ethanol as a new source of alternative fuel. They are currently the leader in bringing back and keeping ethanol as a fuel source. This may be part of their whole values and history for going back in time, Henry Ford, the founder of this huge automobile company, had built a quadricycle that used ethanol as its source of power.
Ethanol is indeed one of the more rational sources of fuel for it is very much renewable compared to gas. In fact, studies have it that this fuel source could be taking the lead one day in the race for the top source of fuel. Primarily, this is because ethanol could be derived from virtually limitless feedstocks which could be replaced after harvest. On the other hand, petroleum or gas sources could get depleted. With this, Ford is planning on being the leader in this huge race and is planning on crafting around 2 million vehicles that could work with ethanol.
As per its effects on the environment? Brian Rippon, the policy manager of Ford Government Affairs' Global Public Policy team, claims, "It can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions because the process of making it recaptures carbon. No other currently available vehicle technology or alternative fuel - including hybrids and natural gas - provides those benefits." Ford vice president of Environmental and Safety Engineering Sue Cischke also adds, "Our FFVs are capable of operating on up to 85 percent ethanol (E85), or gasoline, or any mixture in between. And all of our gasoline-powered engines are designed to operate on 10 percent ethanol or E10."
Aside from the already mentioned benefits that the environment and motorists would be receiving by using ethanol as a power source, ethanol also costs much less compared to gasoline. However, one of the main challenges for Ford today is that there is essentially a lack factories or infrastructures that would be able to produce more and more supply of this fuel. However, they seem to have already found an answer to that problem. According to Tom Brewer, the president of Ford Thailand, "Ford has every ambition to put more ethanol vehicles onto the congested roads of Bangkok and every other major city across the kingdom. Ford has the technology and the products to respond today. we're ready if the Thai consumer and Thai government are ready to support it."
Tip! From fat or vegetable oil through a chemical process called transesterification comes biodiesel an alternative fuel. This process breaks apart the glycerin from the fat or vegetable oil, creating two new products, glycerin and biodiesel.
You can shop at Ford Parts Online for Ford tailgate, Ford rear body panel and other auto parts.
Jay Stevens works as a consultant for an established auto parts store in the country. He has expertise in automotive technology and has extensive knowledge on the auto parts industry.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Ethanol Fuel As An Alternative
Ethanol fuel is changing our lives and changing the economy in ways no one anticipated before, with energy costs rising every day, there has been an increased interest in ethanol fuel. Ethanol is a variety of alcohol that can be produced in a natural fashion, similar to the way in which alcoholic beverages are produced. Ethanol can be used by itself in some specially designed vehicles, but it can also be used as a fuel additive, stretching traditional fuels in times of economic or environmental hardship. Ethanol is used today by more people ever before, simply because of the cheap alternative to the soaring gas prices.
Using ethanol fuel as an alternative to gas does require motorists to get a special ethanol kit and install it in their cars, but since gas prices have been unstable in the last years many people feel that making that kind of investment will prove financially profitable in the future.
Ethanol fuel that is derived from crops has advantages over traditional fossil fuels. The ethanol fuel is obtained from the sugars and starches in crops like corn and grains. It also burns cleaner than petroleum based fuels due to its chemical composition, alleviating some of the strain placed on the environment by exhaust emissions. The increased consumption of corn for ethanol use has already started to affect the corn farms projections of yearly crops.
Blended ethanol fuel has proven to be an effective source of energy for several parts of the country, as well as other parts of the globe. E10 is a typical mixture. It is common in the Midwestern United States. Many other countries around the world start to consider using ethanol instead of regular fuel, Denmark for example, has also begun using this type of ethanol fuel. It appears to be doing well, though its use is not as extensive as many of its proponents had hoped it would be. There is still a long way for ethanol to become a natural option for fuel, the United States had used ethanol fuel for less than one percent of its gasoline needs in the year 2002.
Tip! Learn more about alternative fuels and flexible fuel vehicles, including what vehicles are flexible fuel vehicles, and where to find E85, at the United States Government's Alternative Fuel Data Center at http://www.eere.
The other big issue surrounding ethanol is the environmental issue, it is still not absolutely clear that ethanol is in fact environment friendly, and whether the environmental aspects of ethanol fuel are as good as they have been previously described by the supporters of ethanol fuel use. The growing concern is that while the use of ethanol by itself may be good for the environment, the resources and work done to provide the production of the ethanol could be potentially dangerous for the forests, rainforests and areas where the corn and other ethanol producing resources are being grown. While it is true that the fuel can be made from renewable resources there is evidence that some rainforests are actually being cleared to make space for crops that are used in the production of ethanol. As the controversy regarding the production of ethanol and its dangers, it is very clear that this alternative source of energy is becoming more and more popular.
Tip! Other choices we might make could include the use of synthetic lubricants, alternative fuels such as ethanol, particularly E85, or biodiesel.
Simon Oldmann is an avid writer and a green activist, he has been writing about Ethanol use since the growing popularity of Ethanol these last years, Simon writes for ZupaTips.com
Using ethanol fuel as an alternative to gas does require motorists to get a special ethanol kit and install it in their cars, but since gas prices have been unstable in the last years many people feel that making that kind of investment will prove financially profitable in the future.
Ethanol fuel that is derived from crops has advantages over traditional fossil fuels. The ethanol fuel is obtained from the sugars and starches in crops like corn and grains. It also burns cleaner than petroleum based fuels due to its chemical composition, alleviating some of the strain placed on the environment by exhaust emissions. The increased consumption of corn for ethanol use has already started to affect the corn farms projections of yearly crops.
Blended ethanol fuel has proven to be an effective source of energy for several parts of the country, as well as other parts of the globe. E10 is a typical mixture. It is common in the Midwestern United States. Many other countries around the world start to consider using ethanol instead of regular fuel, Denmark for example, has also begun using this type of ethanol fuel. It appears to be doing well, though its use is not as extensive as many of its proponents had hoped it would be. There is still a long way for ethanol to become a natural option for fuel, the United States had used ethanol fuel for less than one percent of its gasoline needs in the year 2002.
Tip! Learn more about alternative fuels and flexible fuel vehicles, including what vehicles are flexible fuel vehicles, and where to find E85, at the United States Government's Alternative Fuel Data Center at http://www.eere.
The other big issue surrounding ethanol is the environmental issue, it is still not absolutely clear that ethanol is in fact environment friendly, and whether the environmental aspects of ethanol fuel are as good as they have been previously described by the supporters of ethanol fuel use. The growing concern is that while the use of ethanol by itself may be good for the environment, the resources and work done to provide the production of the ethanol could be potentially dangerous for the forests, rainforests and areas where the corn and other ethanol producing resources are being grown. While it is true that the fuel can be made from renewable resources there is evidence that some rainforests are actually being cleared to make space for crops that are used in the production of ethanol. As the controversy regarding the production of ethanol and its dangers, it is very clear that this alternative source of energy is becoming more and more popular.
Tip! Other choices we might make could include the use of synthetic lubricants, alternative fuels such as ethanol, particularly E85, or biodiesel.
Simon Oldmann is an avid writer and a green activist, he has been writing about Ethanol use since the growing popularity of Ethanol these last years, Simon writes for ZupaTips.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
