The world is using too much fossil fuels. We all know it, and we all realize peakoil is just around the corner. The way forward is not using our cars less, or not heating our homes — it’s alternative fuels and finding better ways to use these fuels…
The Alternative Fuels Blog will be talking about these alternative fuels, and we’ll hopefully be able to start in a couple days once we settle in…
Again — welcome!
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With the advancement in new fuels taking off we have a lot of options we never thought were possible. With all of these new fuel options being brought to our attention it’s become harder to know what’s a legitimate alternative is and what’s a waste of money is. As a college student I want something that’s cheaper than gas and performs the best efficiently creating better fuel mileage. Now thinking as a car crazy, speed driven young man I want a fuel that is burning at a faster and cleaner rate than gasoline, creating more horse power at the rear wheels. What I’ve come across I think will be beneficial to our suffering environment and fill the needs for better mileage and power that all gear heads look for in the Hot Rod world. I introduce to you Liquefied Petroleum Gas also known as (LPG or Propane for short). According to the Consumer Energy Center LPG has been around since 1912 and it is the third most commonly used fuel source next to gasoline and diesel. Propane as a fuel source would not only be beneficial to our environment, it would also help our vehicles engine components. In fact propane actually lowers the amount of vehicle maintenance because it burns cleaner and leaves close to no carbon build up on the engine components compared to conventional gasoline and diesel engines. Propane also leaves the engine oils uncontaminated meaning there would be less oil changes for the consumers. Having to do less maintenance to a vehicle in turn leaves the owner with more money in pocket not only with the maintenance of the vehicle, but with the cost of the fuel as well. The cost of propane compared to gasoline and diesel is comparatively cheaper because it doesn’t cost much to make and is the left over from gasoline production.
The propane as a fuel not only saves gas but shows gear heads like myself that big horse power and environmentally friendly engines are possible. A great example of this would be Mothers Polish’s 1970 Chevelle SS named Project Pro Pane. Their goal for the build was to build a one off environmentally friendly Chevelle powered by propane. They wanted the focus to be on the power train and the fuel supply of the vehicle to show that the muscle car guy can be environmentally friendly, because the only kind of pollution this car will ever leave behind are the two black stripes on the pavement .In a sense this is very true. The engine not only produces over 1000 horse power at the rear wheels it does so with 30% less hydrocarbons, 87% less carbon monoxide, 90% less nitrogen oxide, 10% carbon dioxide, less methane gas and 92% less particulate. As a green fuel propane allows us to run engines at a higher compression rate with extremely high boost with no detonation of the engines internal components.
Roush has also come across a similar finding that is more consumer friendly at the moment, considering that the Mothers Chevelle consists of a list of one off parts. Roush has a propane kit that will convert Fords F150s to propane trucks. According to Roush the kit will set the consumers back $7,995, but the green truck will qualify for a $5,000 tax credit on top of the 50-cent credit per gallon of propane burned. With the wholesale price of propane around a dollar a gallon, the consumer would start saving right away.
For many the Roush conversion will be the way to go at the moment. In my opinion Mothers Polish needs to make the parts for that Chevelle available to the public because a lot of interested muscle car guys like me would love to get our hands on new pollution free technology.