What Would Fuel the Cars of the Future?

It's not easy to determine which will rule out as the best fuel for the cars of the future. There is a never ending debate on the pros and cons of hybrids, fuel cells, and even biofuels. Of course, fossil fuels still remain to be the best source of fuel but they are soon running out, if not causing more damage to the earth. The most that scientists and car manufacturers can do today is to research and develop technologies that will prove to be the most energy efficient, safe, and less polluting.

1. Plug-in hybrids

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is possibly going to be the more sustainable model of hybrid cars in the future. Why? It runs with the help of rechargeable batteries from a grid that gives them access to power from multiple sources. Plug-ins will continually evolve in the future to eventually skip the electricity generated by fossil fuels to more renewable sources.

2. Fuel cells

According to Bill Pierce, General Motors director at the United States Council for Automotive Research, "Fuel cells are really the only way to get completely out of gasoline and get the vehicle to be CO2 neutral. You really can't do it through efficiency alone, or biofuels alone, or plug-ins alone. You need a mix of all of them, and fuel cells are the last piece of that overall puzzle."

When it comes to fuel cells, cost, onboard storage and infrastructure remains to be the huge obstacles. Cars running on fuel cells do not emit CO2, but it is not easy to create an endless source of clean hydrogen. A promising solution in the future, according to MIT chemist Daniel Nocera, is reverse fuel cell manufacturing, by splitting H20 and generating hydrogen with the help of sunlight.

3. Biofuels

Biofuels are a whole different story. We have failed on the ethanol, what will be next? Scientists are looking at algae as one of the most promising sources of biofuels.

Could cars run on algae?

Maybe three years from now, major airlines will run on fuel that is made from algae. Sounds like a pipe dream? Not really. Sapphire Energy in La Jolla, CA is actually producing jet fuel using algae biofuel. As a matter of fact, they have also run test flights on commercial airlines such as the Boeing 737-800 back in January 2009 using algae biofuel, and it was a success.

Some of the major problems that algae biofuels are facing are emissions, infrastructure and politics. However, much optimism is pointing towards algae as our generation's alternative from Middle East oil.

Algae oil is created using sunlight, water, and CO2. It's great to know that these resources can be found everywhere. Sunlight is abundant, and non-potable water can be used to feed the algae. And along with this process, the algae itself absorb large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, the production of algae also emits CO2 back in the atmosphere, although at a lesser amount than burning fossil fuels.

Companies such as Sapphire Energy make use of their existing pipelines, refineries, and trucks to create and transport their algae fuel products. Because of this, it is a lot easier to incorporate algae biofuel in their system.

Algae biofuels are so new that the US government has not made any policies regulating its production. But algae producing companies work with lawmakers to make sure algae biofuel production has room in our economy to flourish.