what is the economical aspect of alternative fuels?

Question

help pls!!!

Answer 1

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You probably are expecting some very negative answers to this question. But I have a positive one.
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I drive an electric car. I bought it used, from eBay, for only $2000, and fixed it up for another $2000. This is not unheard of, here's a link where you can find electric cars for $5,000 to $15,000:
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http://www.squidoo.com/cheap-electric-car/
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Also on that page, you will find a discussion of how inexpensive driving on electricity is. In most locations, it only costs a penny or two per mile.
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Aside from replacing batteries (about $850 every 20,000 miles for me), there are almost no other maintenance costs on an EV. Electric motors have only one moving part - they can last decades with no repairs. Indeed, my own EV is 25 years old, and has all the original motor and electric parts.
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But the often cited "battery problem" that electric cars have suffered from (short driving ranges, replacing batteries) no longer plagues modern electric cars. Here's a modern EV:
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http://phoenixmotorcars.com/models/fleet.html
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The Phoenix electric pickup truck - using new, advanced Altairnano batteries (based on research from MIT) - can:

-Travel up to 250 miles per charge
-Carry 5 passengers plus cargo at 95mph.
-Charges batteries in as little as TEN MINUTES.
-Has batteries that last 250,000 miles (never need replacement.)
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Of course it is expensive ($45,000), because it is hand-built, and it is new technology. Even Henry Ford had to build cars, at first, for the wealthy before he could afford to build a Model T factory.
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Could it make sense, economically, to buy that $45,000 car? Yes it could, despite the high price tag - because of the fuel savings, and the expected long, maintenance-free lifetime.
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Answer 2

On a short term, increase of the cost of life, since the implementation of alternative fuel and energy is (now) more expensive than continuing to use conventional fuels.
But, considering the fact that fossile fuels reserves (oil, especially) are exhausting fast, alternative fuels are the only choice, and will become cheaper on a long term (as the oil becomes more rare, the price goes up). Research and investment in alternative energy sources has given and will give results, increasing efficiency and decreasing the cost of such technologies. There are lots of smart people on this planet, they have found alternative energy sources and will find more. All of us (and the big companies) just have to have the good will to accept these alternatives.
Everything must be done step by step, with the care for people. The dozens of millions of people working in conventional energy industries (especially the petroleum industry) will have to convert their jobs into the alternative energy industries. It's scary, but it must be done, since they will lose their jobs anyway, when the oil dries out.
So, in the long term, cheap alternative energy will lead not only to a cleaner, non-polluted and healthier planet (and people), but saving a lot of money in the end. Imagine what we could do with all that money !

Answer 3

What are alternative fuels?-------Ethynol from corn?-----takes 1 gal. of petrolium product to produce 1 gal. of ethynol----------strickly a political move-[ think Iowa Pirmaries }
Methane--hydrogen-----vast potentional but also puts the Oil industry at a risk of loss/profit so not pushed by the gov.
Other ethynol sources-----weeds, grasses, suger cane-check out Brazil---
But what ever happened to increasing the MPG of autos ?
Back in the early gas crises days the japs came thru with cars that got 30-35 mpg and up untill now that threashold hasn't really improved, wonder why----------
Because consumers oppted for faster/more powerful cars and the gov mandates to decrease pollution led to engine configurations that reduced milage and that crash test thing added a lot of weight to a car reducing milage.
Would it surprise you to know that all those gov. requirements add at least 33% to the cost of a car?
So what if the question was "what if the consumer demaned a car that delivered mim.40 mpg"----------It's a very easily acheived goal and not an expensive one. Search Euro car sites and see what they have to offer and what their mpg's are and ask why can't we have one of those?

Answer 4

The economical aspect is that we will still have an inhabitable earth to live on!
Thus allowing us to continue to make money!!