Transportation applications

From Phyco.org

Transportation applications for alternative fuels would seem obvious, but many of the finer points of their use in transportation are often overlooked. The two most common automotive fuels in the United States are gasoline and diesel, both created from petroleum. They can both be replaced, to certain extents, with ethanol and biodiesel, respectively.

[edit] Environment

The general public views their existing vehicles as being unclean and environmentally unfriendly. Although this may be true if they use petroleum-based fuels, if alternative fuels created from algae or other agricultural means are used, the burning of these "clean" fuels are carbon neutral, meaning that whatever carbon-containing products of combustion, such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, are put into the atmosphere, somewhere else the carbon is being temporarily sequestered into an organism specifically cultivated for use as fuel. This creates a sort of man-made cycle where fuel is created from plants, the fuel is burnt and the products of combustion released into the atmosphere, and then the plants take the products out of the atmosphere and use them to grow, until we process them to produce fuel, thus starting the process over again.

[edit] Technology

Internal combustion engine technology has made much progress since its creation in the 1800s. One of the more recent technological advances is the HCCI engine.