Alternative Fuels: Is there a Solution? Chapter 1

Anyone who owns and maintains a car, truck, or SUV is usually grumpy about the ascending gas prices in our country. If you’re a Republican then you blame the Democrats for overdoing it with the environmental protection of our country and thus preventing any inland oil drilling that may ruin our sacred eco-system. If you are a Democrat, then you blame the Republicans who were in the 2^nd Bush administration for supposedly being in bed with Halliburton. And if you are a crazy old person living in Utah County, then you blame it all on one big diabolical conspiracy.

I spent 2-4 years studying automotive alternative fuel options both in class and in undergraduate department research for Utah Valley University. I worked for an alternative fuel business installing CNG on work trucks and I have interviewed a few people who have tried or invented other ways to power their vehicle.

Allow me to first state the complaints our country has about burning gasoline for fuel in cars, trucks, and SUVs:

Complaint number 1. The cost is too much for me to bare!

Complaint number 2. The emissions from gasoline is killing our environment...think of the children!

I have found that most people like myself are more concerned about complaint number 1 more so than 2.

I myself am not a tofu farting tree hugger and am more concerned about the economic strain that high gas prices are causing instead of what is happening to the ozone.

Since a few of you, my beloved readers, have asked me to share everything I have learned about alternative fuels (both in my studies and suffering through experiences), I will break this lengthy blog into multiple chapters released once a week until I have covered it all. I won’t hold any of my research or experiences back. At the end I will propose my only feasible solution to this crisis. Enjoy.

What’s your biggest complaint to ascending gas prices is it economical, environmental, or a combination of both?