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Okay, we’re all agreed that alternative fuels and technologies are the future.  They undeniably offer us a real opportunity to reduce our impact on the environment without having to give up our beloved four wheeled friends altogether.  So why is there such a lack of consensus on which is best?  Here we take a look at the options available to today’s driver.

Petrol
Petrol is, for now, the most common fuel found in cars on the UK’s roads.  It produces harmful exhaust emissions such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and various nitrogen oxides.  Such emissions contribute heavily to global warming and, though the introduction of unleaded petrol has made it that little bit more environmentally friendly, there continues to be a strong shift from petrol to diesel powered engines.
 
Diesel
The shift from petrol to diesel is unsurprising when you consider that diesel engines last longer and achieve somewhere in the region of 30% more miles per gallon than their petrol alternative.  Diesel engines produce significantly less CO2 than petrol but, in the absence of a particulate filter, they do release more volatile organic compounds and nitrous oxides into the atmosphere.  Here at ecofleet we believe the shift to diesels to be positive in the short term due to the reduction in CO2 emissions but it’s important to remember that it is still produced from non-renewable energy sources.
   
Bio-diesel
Utilising natural oils produced from crops such as sugar beet, rape seed, soy beans and sunflowers, bio-diesel is a biological substitute for regular diesel.  This production method brings many benefits; it is from a renewable source, it is non-toxic, it has less particulate matter in its emissions and the plants grown to create the fuel absorb CO2 during photosynthesis.  Unfortunately, supply is scarce throughout most of the UK and looks likely to remain that way due to the huge areas of land needed to grow the required quantities of crops.
 
Bio-ethanol
Bio-ethanol is a less common biofuel than bio-diesel but serves as a substitute to petrol.  It relies upon ethanol being refined from oil or, more commonly, from biomass via grain alcohol using crops such as sugar cane and rapeseed oil.  Bio-ethanol is becoming better known as bio-products become more available.
 
LPG
Produced as a by-product of the oil refining process, Liquid Petroleum Gas is probably the most established of the ‘alternative’ fuels.  When coupled with its lower price per litre, reduced CO2 emissions compared to petrol and lower particulates compared to diesel it would seem to be a reasonable option.  Sadly, these benefits do not detract from the fact that it is still a fossil fuel, facing the same problems as petrol and diesel and therefore likely to be phased out in passenger cars altogether over time.
 
Hybrid
Made popular by Hollywood celebrities and politicians alike, hybrids combine a regular petrol or diesel engine with an electric motor and battery.  Electric power is used at lower speeds and the conventional engine kicks in when the vehicle needs to work harder or reach higher speeds.  Regenerative breaking means that when the vehicle breaks the electric motor recaptures the energy that would normally be lost as heat and converts it into electricity to power it.  Hybrids achieve greater fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions, particularly in urban driving conditions and are therefore a viable solution in the short to medium term but are priced at the higher end of the market.
 
Electric
Electric vehicles are not a new concept, the technology involved is very simple and they release no emissions when driven.  However, they must be recharged every 100 miles or so through a mains electricity point and cannot be classed as pollution free due to the significant levels of emissions released during the generation of the electricity.
 
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