GreenFootprintNet.com

Alternative Fuels - Think you can add information then please Mail GreenFootprintFuelsPage@GreenFootprintnet.com

Tery Gray stands by his Trident Iceni Biodiesel Sports Car. The vehicle capable of over 200 Mph, 0 to 60 in under 4 Seconds, 0 to 100 in less than

August 2008

6900cc Bio-Diesel Duramax Engine, 0 to 60 3.7 Seconds, 1/4 Mile in 10.6 Seconds, 200 MPH Plus, 69.8 at 70 MPH

Where is it now ?

Bio-Diesel is produced from renewable energy sources such as rapeseed, sunflower, or soybean oil *.

Bio-Diesel is a "Green Fuel" as it is potentially carbon-neutral as the carbon dioxide emitted by using Bio-diesel is balanced by the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere during the fuel crop’s growth.

In some instances Bio-Diesel can be used as a direct replacement for diesel. Some manufacturers "remain cautious" about current production vehicles Diesel Engine wear, although as yet we know of no manufacturers test results and recommend a blend of 5% to 30% Bio-Diesel. Some more modern engines and vehicles are however capable of running on 100% Bio-Diesel.

B5. Biodiesel as a 5% blend with 95% Derv, this is now permitted within the EN590 diesel specification and is becoming more available across the UK, you may have already unknowingly used this in your vehicles already.

B20. Biodiesel 20% Derv 80%, Many vehicle manufactures now allow the use of B20 and will be covered under warranty, B20 offers good cost savings, reduced emissions, good compatibility with engine components e.g. Seals and hoses, and excellent cold weather performance.

B50. Biodiesel 50% Derv 50%, Bio Diesel manufacturers recommend this as a good balance and gives significantly reduced emissions and good cold weather performance you should however ask your vehicle manufacturer to ascertain the suitability of B50

B100. Pure Biodiesel. This offers the greatest savings and emissions reduction, during the summer B100 can be used, assuming your vehicles can run pure biodiesel, during winter however biodiesel can start to freeze so unless you have fuel preheaters fitted to your vehicle use B50.

Bi-Ethanol is produced from plants, currently mainly sugar cane and this fuel has a high octane rating which in turn means increased engine efficiency.

Ethanol is widely used globally and is increasing in popularity in especially in Europe.

A number of manufactures such as Ford, Saab and Volvo have developed Flexi Fuel Vehicles (FFV).

Flexi-Fuel vehicles can run on a blend of ethanol and petrol, usually up to E85 (85% Ethanol, 15% Petrol), the common blend in the UK or just Gasoline / Petrol which gives drivers flexibility as the number of current ethanol filling stations are limited.

Bio- ethanol is green and has potential to be carbon-neutral as all the carbon dioxide emitted during its use when emitted from a vehicle is balanced by the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere during the fuel crop’s growth.

Honda Civic GX CNG badge
CNG Compressed Natural Gas is a fossil fuel and reserves exist deep under the Earth's surface but has lower CO2 emissions compared to petrol / diesel but is still a greenhouse gas.

Similar to LPG it requires a conversion so that a vehicle can be switched between gas and petrol.

CNG unlike LPG the gas is compressed in a cylinder rather than being stored in liquid form.

CNG Gas mixes well with air prior to combustion and has a high octane rating and so by is fuel efficient.

CNG is popular worldwide and increasing in popularity in the UK.

There are a number of aftermarket conversions available and options from manufacturers.

Christopher Maltin

Bio-Methane is arguably, the world’s cleanest and most environmentally friendly fuel as during production it also diverts Methane, which is a "climate Changing Gas" from entering the Earths Atmosphere and so effectively doubles this fuels Global Environmental benefits.

Usable Bio-Methane is created by Anaerobic digestion which is the natural breakdown of organic materials (Cow Poo for example) into methane, carbon dioxide gas and fertiliser which takes place naturally, or in can be done faster in an anaerobic digester. After removing the carbon dioxide & other trace gases the remaining methane is called Bio-Methane which is virtually identical to natural gas, the main difference being that it is produced in days, rather than taking millions of years so the uses for biomethane are therefore as varied as are those for natural gas, heating, cooling, as a source of chemicals, fertiliser or hydrogen. Almost anything that is organic waste can be processed. For more details on Bio-Methane generation simply Click Here

Diesel is generally considered by people, due to history, as not very green "Dirty Diesel" but this view is changing as diesel vehicles are the most efficient / greener in terms of "MPG to lowest CO2 emissions percentages". Diesel Vehicle sales especially in the UK have raised steadily as consumers became, not only more cost conscious but demanded more efficient vehicles and Diesel Car Sales in Europe amount to nearly 50% of all new vehicles sold.

Diesel Vehicles operate on average 30% more fuel efficiently than petrol powered vehicles by using higher compression ratios and higher combustion temperatures but Diesel however still releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and is a non-renewable energy source, but this is usually less so than in petrol cars. Advances in engine design and use of low Sulpur and Bio-Diesel have reduced these emissions by use of advanced technology. Bio-Diesel / Diesel Vehicles are quite simply going back to their past History as the original Engine Created by "Dr Diesel" was actualy designed to run on "Peanut Oil"


Edison Electric 1913	Henny Killowatt 1964	Ecotricity Van 2007	Ecotricity Nemesis 2009	GreenBird 2009	Nemesis 2009	Fisker Karma 2008

Electric vehicles have been around for a lot longer than many people realise. In 1900 for example of the 4,192 cars produced in the USA 28 percent were powered by electricity, and electric autos represented about one-third of all cars found on the roads of New York City, Boston, and Chicago. The first picture (Left Above) shows Thomas Edison and an electric car in 1913 (Courtesy of the National Museum of American History) and the second is a Henney Kilowatt which was a Renault Dauphine glider fitted with a General Electric Motor.

Power for electric vehicles is supplied by on board (DC or AC) battery packs which act as an energy store and batteries are usually Nickel metal-hydride or Lithium-ion and charged by connecting the vehicle to a mains power supply and usually need charging overnight for a full charge. Most modern electric cars also have a regenerative braking system which tops up the battery when the brakes are applied.

Most electric vehicles in the

tend to be smaller two seat cars used in cities with a range of 40 to 100 miles on a charge and top speeds from 25 to 45 mph.

The drawback of Electric Vehicles however is not thier speed or range it is in the the balance of "How much CO2 is generated to provide the Electricity needed for these vehicles"

In the UK for example it is estimated that there are 428 grams of CO2 emmitted for every unit of electricity generated and that over 90 pecent British electricity is generated from Fossil Fuels or Nuclear Power.

Considering Britain is generally accepted as "The windiest Island on the Earth" something seems imbalanced. It seems rather odd for the UK Government to with one hand "Push Electric Vehicles as The Green Answer" when the "Other hand goes up to Vote Nuclear".

The facts are that the only green electricity that does anything to reduce CO2 emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels is the New kind, the stuff that gets built today and tomorrow. If you're not building you're not actually achieving anything green at all and it's just marketing, spin which now is now commonly known as "GreenWash".

The last three pictures are owned by "Ecotricity" a British Owned "Green Energy Company" and the 2 sports cars show the "Nemesis" with the Ecotricity "Greenbird" which holds land speed world record (Wind Powered) when Richard Jenkins recorded a speed of 126.2 mph at Ivanpah Dry Lake in California. Click here for more information

Fuel cells are electrochemical energy conversion devices (EECD) which produce energy from an electro-chemical reaction. Electricity can constantly be produce as long as the flow of reactants is available. The vehicle shown here is a HydroGen4 which is based on the Chevrolet Equinox and has a GM Fuel Cell with 440 cells and an output of 93 kW. The hybrid powertrain also contains a nickel-metal-hydride battery with an energy content of 1.8 kWh/35 kW and a three-phase synchronous motor with 73 kW continuous power and 320 Nm of torque. The peak power of the engine is 94 kW. The tanks contain 4.2 kilograms of hydrogen and last about 320 kilometers (199 miles). The maximum speed is 160 km/h with an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 12 seconds.

The HydroGen4 is produced in batches of 100 and many manufacturers still have vehicles under development and it is argued that hydrogen can still not be produced efficiently to make it viable as an alternative fuel.


Lohner Porsche 1901	GM XP-883 1969	New CellToyota Prius 1997	Daimler Citaro FuelCell 2003	Ford Escape 2004	Chevy Silverado 2009	Vauxhall AMpera 2012

Hybrid Vehicles generally use a combination of two power sources and the most common hybrids currently available use electric motors and Gasoline / Petrol combustion engines.

There are currently many different hybrid-electric system designs utilizing either clean diesel engines, alternative fuels engines, gas turbines or fuel cells in conjunction with batteries. There are even some new technology concepts in the developmental stage that utilize storage devices such as flywheels and ultra capacitors in place of the battery.

Batteries charge and act as a storage device to power an electric motor, usually activated when the vehicle is going at low speed or in traffic.

The Gasoline / Petrol engine is usually small and efficient and used when more power is required.

Many manufactures have announced plans for diesel-electric hybrids which are now becoming available.

In most hybrids combustion engine and regenerative braking are used to recharge the battery so hybrid cars do not need to be plugged into an external power supply.

The combination of battery and combustion power produces less pollution and CO2 as no gases created when the vehicle is running on the electric motor.

Just as with Fully Electric Vehicles the facts are the same in that only green electricity that does anything to reduce CO2 emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels counteracts much of the use of Electricity.

LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) LPG is a natural hydrocarbon fuel made up of propane and butane and produces far less carbon dioxide than petrol and fewer particulates and nitrogen oxides than diesel.

Most LPG vehicles have been created by taking a Petrol / Gasoline engined vehicles and having it converted to use LPG and the conversion includes the installation of a second fuel tank so the vehicle can switch between Petrol / Diesel and LPG which has special properties and becomes liquid under pressure reverting to gases at atmospheric pressure so it can be easily and conveniently stored in its liquid form. LPG supply currently is approximately, 60% from the separation of natural gas products and 40% as a by-product from refining of crude oil. Until recently, was considered as waste and Burnt or flared off but now it has been recognized as a major energy source and currently offered by about 10 to 20% of refueling stations across Europe

Petrol (Gasoline or Gas) Alternatives

It is relatively simple to run a Petrol Engine Vehicle, fully or partially, on a sustainable fuel. Ethanol, Methanol and Butanol can all be mixed with petrol in small quantities (5-30%, depending on the fuel) to run a conventional petrol driven car. It must be cautioned that a petrol car cannot be run entirely on these fuels, and that running them even partially on alternative fuels may invalidate your warranty, should the fuel damage your engine (all of these fuels are more corrosive than petrol). Some petrol manufacturers produce petrol that already contains percentages of Ethanol or Butanol that are safe to use. Cars run on Ethanol, Methanol and Butanol are not common in the UK, but are widely used in countries where sugar crops are grown, such as Brazil.

Brazil’s bioethanol is often held up as a model of sustainable biofuel production with over 50% of Brazilian Vehicles running on BioEthanol. This appears to have been confirmed by the report released in October 2006 by the International Energy Agency’s Bioenergy Task 40, which analyses the international bioenergy and biofuels trade. The report concluded that, in general the production of sugarcane-based ethanol as currently practised in Brazil, is “environmentally sustainable.”

It is worth noting however that in regard to Brazils Bio-Diesel from Soy Bean Production * the same report stated that Soybean is certainly the most damaging choice as a "Sustainable Fuel Source" because it gives very low energy to carbon saving Balance balance and carbon saving as soya farming is responsible for more Brazilian Amazon destruction than any other business, including cattle ranching or logging.

Methanol Likewise is unlikely to become a viable Petroleum Alternative due to its low energy output and unlikely to spread much further.

www.know-the-number.com