ALTERNATIVE FUEL SOURCES

Environmental sensitivity, cost, safety, effectiveness, and reliability are the principle criteria involved in the adoption of energy sources. Problems related to environmental degradation, wildly fluctuating costs, and unreliability related to supply beset the fossil fuels that society depends upon most heavily for power needs (Lomberg, 2002). Such problems cause consumers, planners, and policy makers to seek alternative fuel sources. Problems related to cost, safety, and effectiveness tend to plague alternative fuels (Oliver & Hospers, 2001). A changing energy environment and technological advances, however, are improving the feasibility of adopting some alternative fuels (Oliver & Hospers, 2001).

Before reviewing alternative fuel sources, however, it is necessary to define the term. Using electricity to power automobiles, while a worthy endeavor for environmental protection, is not actually an alternative fuel because the generation of electricity occur generally through the burning of fossil fuels. The use of fuel cells that convert hydrogen into electrical power, however, does rely on an alternative fuel source.

Another issue related to the consideration of alternative fuel sources is the tendency to of consumers, planners, and policy makers to focus on fuels used in transportation. Without impinging on the importance of transportation in relation to alternative fuel sources, it is also importan

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is the problem of storing the electricity produced through photovoltaic conversion. Fourth, there is the problem of producing electricity through photovoltaic conversion during periods of low sun light. Research is rapidly solving these problems. An important way to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells is through the retention of more of the light that strikes a semiconductor material. Older photovoltaic cells allowed the reflection of as much as 90 percent of the light before conversion into electricity could occur. Contemporary photovoltaic technologies permit the conversion of up to 30 percent or more of sunlight striking a semiconductor material depending upon the semiconductor media and other factors. The Hitachi Corporation in Japan achieved a conversion efficiency rate in excess of 20 percent with a mono-crystalline cell with a vee-grooved surface structure, a 19.3 percent efficiency rate with a thin film cell grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, and a 12 percent efficiency rate in a high-quality amorphous silicon film single junction cell. Other research involves solar cell fabrication technology in relation to advanced solar cells, amorphous solar cells, and super high-efficiency solar cells. Creation of effec
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Approximate Word count = 4160
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page)