With an estimated 3 billion automobiles operating on the planet and global infrastructure in place to support them, we have become addicted to the gift/curse of petroleum as our primary portable energy form.

    The purpose of this book is to pull together in one place most of the relevant information about practical alternatives to the continued use of petroleum to fuel automobiles and, selectively, rail, air, and marine transportation; to present at an accessible level to most readers the relevant characteristics, advantages, and limitations of each energy source and technology; and to provide the basic physical data and computational methods to allow the reader to draw conclusions and make decisions with a more complete picture, looking beyond the overwhelming mass of media hype and advocate newsletters.

    This chapter defines many of the otherwise ambiguous terms and engineering metrics related to transportation. We discuss the shift in emphasis from directly toxic or carcinogenic automotive emissions to previously ignored greenhouse gases. Four types of sustainability are defined, almost always in conflict with each other. The notion of renewability is clarified, accepting that it now not only refers to biological closed carbon cycles but also includes all energy sources with at least some degree of natural regeneration. The technologies associated with each alternative fuel/energy option, both in the vehicle and the energy supply chain, will be presented in subsequent chapters. In each case, transportation energy and technical innovations are connected to the larger issues of world energy demand and climate change. The artificial economy and conflicts of interest created by government incentives and carbon credits are introduced.


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