Alternative Fuel Sources

Any nation’s infrastructure includes transportation, energy, water, and communication and facilities such as seaports and hydroelectric plants. Most of the things from this list depend on gas. But as we have a limited amount of it to use and it creates air pollution, we have to incorporate alternatives of fuels sources in our nation’s infrastructure (Air Pollution). Thus, this essay seeks to highlight the need for alternative sources of fuel due to the limited and pollution nature of gas supply.

Transportation is the most important part of our nation’s infrastructure. We are using gas as a fuel for most of the transportation. So, gas is useful source for infrastructure. We are also using gas in factories to operate machines. But there are also many side effects of using gas as a fuel source. The exhaust comes out of factories and vehicles contain many pollutants. Thus use of gas is harmful to our environment (Rubin). It is therefore important to come up with other alternative sources to supplement gas.  

Air pollution is dangerous for our environment. It can cause acid rain, global warming, ozone layer depletion among other detrimental effects. Acid rain occasioned by pollution from gas fuel can damage buildings, structures, sculptures which are the part of nation’s cultural heritage, and statues which have historical values. Land can loose its fertility because of acid rain. It can also damage lakes, streams, and animals that live in water. Global warming can directly impact on rising sea levels, melting icecaps, and climate change. Rising sea levels can create floods, hurricanes, and tropical storms. Rising temperature can cause forest fire. Roads. Airport runways, railway lines, and oil, sewer, water pipelines will require more maintenance due to the climate change and temperature variation. There will be great migration of the people from some part of the world to the other part. Ozone layer blocks ultra violet rays to enter into our environment and send them back. Ultra violet rays can harm humans, animals, and plants. Air pollution creates depletion in the ozone layer. So, its affectivity to block ultra violet rays decreases. UV rays can cause skin cancer, premature aging of skin, eye damage, and immune system suppression. Air pollution can also cause lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidney. Eliminating oil dependency is important at this age. Natural gas can be very useful as an alternative energy in transport sector. Natural gas does not involve the use of oil; it is a combination of hydrocarbons, primarily methane. Natural gas can be of two types: the liquefied natural gas and the compressed natural gas. Both these natural gas types should be stored on board in a vehicle and are both friendly to the environment on combustion.

The most serious threat to world oil market in recent days is political instability in producer countries. World oil reserves are sufficient to meet growing demand for the next decade. Iraq, for example, is in the top four of the world oil reserve holders. Venezuela, Russia, Nigeria, and other major oil exporters have also seen serious political instability in their energy sectors over the past three years (Rubin). The rapid growth in China and India is responsible for driving up world oil prices. The main problem for the price is that many major exporters are not increasing production quickly enough to keep pace with demand. State oil companies control more than 80% of the world’s oil. This adversely affects a country’s performance economically if other sources are not provided.

Oil and gas are used for many things which are basic to our life. It is not just used for transportation but it is also used for everything that moves. We use oil and gas based fertilizers to grow our food (Raker). We also use it to make plastic based products. There are also some other products like air conditioner, antiseptics, asphalt, aspirin, bandages, bottles, bubble gum, cameras, etc. made form it. From this we can imagine the extent to which global peak oil and rising gas price can affect the country and economy.

An agency like EPA promotes and expands the use of environmentally beneficial alternative fuels (Alternative Sources).  There are a number of fuels in the world that are alleged to be cleaner and safer than what is in use right now. These include biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol, and natural gas. Moreover, electric powered energy and solar powered energy could be useful in dealing with the challenges posed by oil fuels.    

Another fact is that oil supply is diminishing. We have limited amount of oil supply. If we won’t start using it wisely, it will be empty early. We have been stockpiling oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. We have about 675 million barrels stored there. If we can’t get any more oil from outside, as per current usage it will last for about 40-50 days. Oil supply is very important for our daily lives. Almost all kinds of transportation depend on it. It will also affect our stock market and plunge the nation into severe depression (Rubin).  If we won’t find out better alternatives for fuel, the transportation services will be shut. So, it will be hard for companies to get a raw material or to send their products to the market. There will be many other problems related to our daily life.

Therefore, everyday changes in gas prices affect the economy of the country. If we will keep continue using the gas in the same amount we are using now, the gas price will be at the peak. There are quite a number of dangers in the universe emerging and that lead to global warming and that puts human health at risk. With the increasing scarcity in gasoline and an enormous pollution to our environs, companies engaged in transport are expected to implement and search for better methods can be used as alternative fuels for a cleaner and safer environment in which we live and in the transport sector. Alternative fuel sources are thus needed.