Alternative fuels are being used today in place of petroleum based fuels. The following fuels are classified as "alternative fuels":

biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, methanol, natural gas, propane, p-series, and solar energy.

The use of alternative fuels can help reduce dependence on imported petroleum and most alternative fuels improve air quality. In this section, you will find a variety of information on these fuels, as well as links to other resources with more detailed information.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is a domestically produced, renewable fuel that can be manufactured from vegetable oils or recycled restaurant greases. Biodiesel is safe, biodegradable, and reduces air pollutants such as particulates, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.

Ethanol

Ethanol is an alcohol-based alternative fuel produced by fermenting and distilling starch crops that have been converted into simple sugars. Feedstocks for this fuel include corn, barley and wheat. Ethanol can also be produced from "cellulosic biomass" such as trees and grasses and is called bioethanol. Ethanol is most commonly used to increase octane and improve the emissions quality of gasoline.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen gas (H2) will play an important role in developing sustainable transportation, because it can be produced in virtually unlimited quantities using renewable resources. Pure hydrogen and hydrogen mixed with natural gas have been used effectively to power automobiles. However, hydrogen's real potential rests in its future role as fuel for fuel cell vehicles. Hydrogen and oxygen fed into a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell "stack" produces enough electricity to power an electric automobile, without producing harmful emissions.

Methanol

Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, has been used as an alternative fuel in flexible fuel vehicles that run on M85 (a blend of 85% methanol and 15% gasoline). However, it is not commonly used as such because car manufacturers no longer are supplying methanol-powered vehicles. Methanol can also be used to make MTBE, an oxygenate which is blended with gasoline to enhance octane and create cleaner burning fuel. MTBE production and use has declined due to the fact that it has been found to contaminate ground water. In the future, methanol could possibly be the fuel of choice for providing the hydrogen necessary to power fuel cell vehicles. South America is an important source of information on methanol production.

Natural Gas

Natural gas has become increasingly popular as an alternative transportation fuel. Natural gas is also clean burning and produces significantly fewer harmful emissions than reformulated petroleum. Natural gas can either be stored on board a vehicle in tanks as compressed natural gas (CNG) or cryogenically cooled to a liquid state, liquefied natural gas (LNG).

LPG

Propane or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a popular alternative fuel choice because an infrastructure of pipelines, processing facilities, and storage already exists for its efficient distribution. Besides being readily available to the general public, LPG produces fewer vehicle emissions than standard petroleum fuels. Propane is produced as a by-product of natural gas processing and crude oil refining. A number of local authority fleets in Cheshire now use LPG as an alternative fuel, saving financial and environmental resources.

Electricity

Electricity can be used as a transportation fuel to power battery electric and fuel cell vehicles. When used to power electric vehicles or EVs, electricity is stored in an energy storage device such as a battery. EV batteries have a limited storage capacity and must be replenished by plugging the vehicle into a recharging unit. The electricity for recharging the batteries can come from the existing power grid, or from distributed renewable sources such as solar or wind energy. Fuel cell vehicles use electricity produced from an electrochemical reaction that takes place when hydrogen and oxygen are combined in the fuel cell "stack." The production of electricity using fuel cells takes place without combustion or pollution and leaves only two byproducts, heat and water.

P Fuel

P-Series fuel is a unique blend of natural gas liquids (pentanes plus), ethanol, and a biomass-derived co-solvent (MTHF). P-Series is made primarily from renewable resources and provides significant emissions benefits over reformulated gasoline.

Solar Energy

Solar energy technologies use sunlight to produce heat and electricity. Electricity produced by solar energy through photovoltaic technologies can be used in conventional electric vehicles. Using solar energy directly to power vehicles has been investigated primarily for competition and demonstration vehicles. Solar vehicles are not available to the general public, and are not currently being considered by OEMs for production.