InfoCentral

Every week the library publishes an article in the Westland Observer on a new subject. Below is this week's article.

Alternative Fuel

InfoCentral, April 5 - 12, 2007

One of the hot topics these days is the use of alternative fuels, especially in the automotive industry. Alternative fuels, as defined by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), include ethanol, natural gas, propane, hydrogen, biodiesel, electricity, methanol, and p-series fuels. Using these alternative fuels in vehicles can generally reduce harmful pollutants and exhaust emissions. In addition, most of these fuels can be domestically produced and derived from renewable sources.

In his 2007 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush championed energy alternatives. Among his emphases was the potential of biomass - plant materials - to fulfill a greater share of our nation's transportation fuel needs. One of Bush's latest initiatives is his 20 in 10 plan, which calls for reducing U.S. gasoline consumption by 20% in 10 years through boosting alternative-fuel consumption to 35 billion gallons a year from 7 billion gallons now, as well as raising fuel-economy standards.

Using alternative fuels is not a new idea. Electric vehicles have been around since the 1800s but lost favor in the mid 1900s due to better road conditions, need to travel longer distances, and a growing domestic oil/gas industry. The 1960s and 1970s saw a need for alternative-fueled vehicles to reduce the problems of exhaust emissions from internal combustion engines and to reduce the dependency on imported foreign crude oil. These reasons haven't changed over time and the effect on global warming has become an added incentive to look once again at alternative fuels.

If you're interested in learning more about alternative fuels, the William P. Faust Public Library has resources that might be of interest to you. Some books that might help you sort out the reasons for using these types of fuel include Energy Alternatives: Opposing Viewpoints; Richard Heinberg's The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies; and William Sweet's Kicking the Carbon Habit: Global Warming and the Case for Renewable and Nuclear Energy.

If electric and hybrid cars are of interest to you, check these out: Who Killed the Electric Car? (DVD); Curtis D. Anderson's Electric and Hybrid Cars: a History; Joe Sherman's Charging Ahead and Daniel Sperling's Future Drive: Electric Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation.

Two websites to check out for specific information on alternative fuels and the government's energy initiatives are www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/altfuel/altfuels.html and www.nrel.gov.

The William P. Faust Public Library of Westland is open Monday - Wednesday, 10 am - 8 pm; Thursday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm; Sunday, noon - 5 pm.