Alternative Fuel Summation

Questions:

1. I feel that solar energy and power is the most ready for mass production. Part of the reason is that in a lot of places solar energy is already being mass produced and used my hundreds of Americans. It's pretty efficent except for the fact that it is very expensive up front, but its more of an investment that will be paid off in the future.

2. I believe that ethanol will be the best substitute for gasoline. Once cars are made suitable and are protected from the corrosion that ethanol can do to manny engines, it is a lot like gasoline. It has better mpg then hydrogen which is quite expensive and doesn't get you as far as a gallon of gasoline would, ethanol does and is not as expensive.

3. I feel that either hydrogen or nuclear power has the most problems to overcome before mass prodution. Although, nuclear power is kinda of already being produced its definatly not the best option. It releases toxins into the atmosphere that can never be removed, the produces radioactive waste that has to be burried for thousands of years until it is no longer harmful, and if this waste gets into the wrong hands, there is enough nuclear waste to create around 30 nuclear bombs. Hydrogen is very expensive and does not get as many mpg as gasoline. There are also not very many hydrogen fueling stations across the united states so it will be difficult for people to plan their days around where they can fill up with hydrogen. Also, almost everyone will have to get new cars that will run on hydrogen.

4. I believe nuclear energy will have the least amount of impact on the enviornment mostly becase it can only be used for another 40-60 years and then the uranium will run out. I don't understand why we would put all this time and money into something that is only going to run out in such a short amount of time. Once it runs out we will be in the same situation we are now, and it is only going to polute the enviornment more and our atmosphere is in bad enough shape as it is.

5. I feel that solar power will have the biggest impact on the enviornment. Once it is mass produced it will start to pay for itself because sunlight is free, and most of the time is always shining. Scientists are finding new ways to store energy you dont use and even sell extra energy to plants in order to make money.

Short Essay:

In the future I think that we will end up using a mixture of a couple of these fuels. I think for most things its realistic to use solar energy becasue solar pannels are easy to put on top of houses and dont take up very much space, people are also working on making them smaller and more portable. I also think its great that solar energy can help you make money by being able to sell it back to storage plants. Another useful fuel i think, will be wind. Wind is also free and due to the changes in temperature in the atmosphere, wind is flowing a lot of the time. It can also be stored. The drawbacks are mainly that turbines are very expensive and take up a lot of space, also many people think they are pretty ugly, which i kind of agree with. But i still think wind energy will be a big part of the enviornment. As far as automobile fuels go, I think ethanol will be the best option becasue it is most like gasoline. The price will eventually even out and it will be around the same, maybe cheaper, than gasoline is today. You can also get close to the same mpg that you would get with gas. One of ethanols drawbacks is that ethanol evaporates within a couple of days, therefore it will be difficult to transport to far places or even store as a backup.
I do not think it is realistic to select nuclear energy as a reliable alternate fuel. If anything, nuclear energy will just be used to buy us more time to develop our other energy sources, but I don't think its worth it. It will just release nonremovable gases into the atmosphere for another 40-60 years, and then all the money we put into making the facilities and security will be lost. Also the waste will cause another problem because it will build up and remains harmful for about one thousand years. Its just not worth the risks.