These alternatives are not new to the market. But it seems that they may have fallen through the cracks, so to speak, because of the promotion of ethanol, biodiesel and the fuel cell. Despite the fact that these alternatives may be under the radar, the sale of conversion kits which allow these gases to be used have risen worldwide.
According to , For example, nearly three million liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) conversion kits were sold worldwide in 2006. And experts are guessing that sales of these kits will reach around eight million by 2012. Currently, aftermarket sales of the conversion kits are dominating and account for about 85 percent of total kit sales worldwide.
Still, original equipment or OEM kit sales are expected to increase and could reach 27 percent of the total sold by 2012. Many are sold in such countries as India, Pakistan, the European Union, and Iran. India and Iran alone account for 20 percent of global sales of CNG kits in 2006.
Our take? The point is there are other alternative fuels around that seem to be doing quite well in certain segments of the world. The more alternatives that are actively used, the more we will be able to combat carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and particulate matter.
And the result is a much cleaner environment and assure what Louis Armstrong used to sing, ?a beautiful world.?
1. Alternative fuels can't, in my opinion, overtake conventional fuels because of the higher cost of the product or of the special conversions necessary to accommodate them. It's just economics, I believe.
But one major non-fuel alternative goes unmentioned in most debates about cutting noxious exhaust emissions. And that is, a substantial reduction in the friction found in any engine's moving parts will provide more efficient fuel use and thereby reduce emissions. This simple idea is difficult to achieve.
But it can be. For example, the product Microlon(R) has been shown by the standard EPA tests to greatly reduce CO2, Nitrous Oxide and Hydrocarbons by enough to exceed most EPA standards. Caterpillar showed reductions in Hydrocarbons by as much as 64% in controlled testing.
The major take-away here is that these substantial reductions are all due to reducing the friction of the engine's moving parts allows the fuel to burn cleaner. And the engines also get much improvement in mileage per gallon.
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