Alternative Sources of Fuel

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This is a petroleum dependent society. Everything from the vehicles that are driven to the electricity that is used, require petroleum to operate. However, this is becoming a major problem due to the decreasing amount of fossil fuel available to the world. The solution to this problem is alternative sources of fuel. Alternative sources of fuel can be obtained from a variety of energy sources, including those derived from biomass, various liquid fuels, and even energy from the sun (The New Book).
Researchers from the Department of Energy, or DOE for short, are searching for alternative sources of fuel. Many of the solutions involve the use of Biomass (The New Book). Biomass is created when plants, garbage, or any other natural waste is chemically changed through a process called fermentation (The New Book). During the fermentation process, bacteria are used to convert the natural waste into various gases and liquid fuels (The New Book). There are many popular liquid fuels that are obtained this process. Two of these fuels are ethanol and methanol (The New Book). Ethanol is the most well-known and widely used liquid fuel produced during fermentation (The New Book).
Ethanol is a renewable fuel that is produced from plants such as corn, sugar cane, and many types of grasses (Alternative Fuels). The Energy Information Administration has stated, “Ethanol fuel use in the U.S. has increased dramatically from about 1.7 billion gallons in 2001 to about 12.9 billion in 2012.” Ethanol comes in three blends, or mixes of gasoline and ethanol. The first two blends, which are the most commonly used, are E10 and E15 (Alternative Fuels). The number represents the percentage of ethanol in the mixture. E10 would contain 10% ethanol and 90% ...

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... fuels such as petroleum and gasoline. In order to put the United States on track to becoming energy independent, the use of alternative fuels must be increased. With alternative fuels that are derived from biomass such as ethanol and methanol and other sources like electricity and solar power, the United States should have a good start to achieving the goal of energy independence. The future of fuel is clean, energy efficient alternative fuels.

Works Cited
Allen, Mike. Crunching the Numbers on Alternative Fuels. Popular Mechanics. 2014. Web 30 April 2014.
Alternative Fuels. Fuel Economy. 2 May 2014. Web. 30 April 2014.
Fuels & Vehicles. AFDC. 6 March 2014. Web. 30 April 2014.
Sofge, Erik. The Energy Fix. Popular Science. June 2013. Print.
The New Book of Popular Science Earth Sciences Energy Environmental Sciences. Philippines: Grolier Incorporated, 1979. Print.

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