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	Renewable Energy Solar Power A tiny of the Sun's energy will supply our power needs many times over. Wind Energy Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into more useful forms.

	Environmentally Clean Energy Hydrogen Fuel Cells Hydrogen is considered a very promising candidate for alternate fuel. Biofuel Biodiesel is safe, biodegradable, and reduces air pollutants. Methanol/Ethanol Methanol and ethanol have long been considered for fuels.

Methanol and Ethanol Fuel Sources

Ethanol and Methanol can be used to fuel internal combustion motor vehicles, either as standalone fuels or, more usually, when mixed with petroleum (gasoline).

Methanol has been considered as a fuel, mainly in combination with gasoline. It has received less attention than ethanol, however, because it has a number of problems of its own. Its main advantage is that it can be easily manufactured from methane (the chief constituent of natural gas) as well as by pyrolysis of many organic materials. A problem with pyrolysis is that it is only economically feasible on an industrial scale, so it is not advisable to try and produce methanol from renewable resources like wood on a small (personal use) scale. In any case, high temperatures are involved, with some risk of fire; furthermore, methanol is highly toxic, so great care should be taken at all times not to ingest methanol, spill it onto exposed skin, or inhale the fumes.

Ethanol can be used as fuel for automobiles either alone (E100) in a special engine or as an additive to gasoline for petroleum engines. California's site has some information about ethanol and methanol being used in automobiles today.

Ethanol can be blended with gasoline in varying quantities to reduce the consumption of petroleum fuels, as well as to reduce air pollution. The resulting fuel is known in the United States as gasohol, or gasoline type C in Brazil. Two common mixtures in the United States are E10 and E85 which contain 10% and 85% ethanol, respectively, while the common mixtures in Brazil are gasoline type C and its high octane variants, which contain 20% to 25% ethanol (also the only kind of gasoline legally sold in fuel stations).

Ethanol is also increasingly used as an oxygenate additive for standard gasoline, as a replacement for methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), the latter chemical being responsible for considerable groundwater and soil contamination. Ethanol can also be used to power fuel cells, such as the alternative energy Hydrogen Fuel Cells.

Ethanol derived from crops (bio-ethanol) is a potentially sustainable energy resource that may offer environmental and long-term economic advantages over fossil fuel (gasoline).

Most contemporary petrol cars will run on E10, a 10% mixture of ethanol to petrol, although warranties may state that a mix of 5% is the maximum allowed. Many major car manufacturers have developed cars which run on fuels containing higher proportions of alcohol, typically E85. Ethanol has some properties which are different from petrol; for example, in car engines, it has a higher octane rating, is more corrosive and abrasive, cleans the old deposits away (hence fuel filters, in converted vehicles, may need changing after a short time, initially), may create minor flow problems and can make starting more difficult. The national distribution network will also require modifications to some of its components, mainly because of the corrosive properties of alcohol and its ability to mix with water.

In the UK, in 2005, tax concessions for ethanol encouraged a minor shift and a 5% ethanol mixture entered the retail market. A firm called Greenenergy pioneered this and Tesco have been reported as the retailers (mainly in England), the ethanol source being Brazilian sugar cane. The real motivation may be cost (although the reduction in price to the UK customer is small) but even so that is no bad thing. In 2006 another supermarket, Morrisons, started selling E85 bio-ethanol in East Anglia. The 5% mix can be used in most petrol vehicles but the 85% mix is limited to a very small number of current vehicles. It is hoped that the trend continues with a significant expansion of the use of bio-ethanol in the UK, and other sources will be created, prodded by expected government policies. These are needed if vehicle manufacturers are to be tempted and oil companies are to be persuaded. The way that the fuel distributors work means that they all need to cooperate for a substantial conversion to take place.

Although cars can run on pure alcohol, road vehicles normally use a mixture of petrol and alcohol. The ratio of the mixture makes a difference to the pollution potential. In general when alcohol is added there appear to be less carbon monoxide and other toxins but there are greater emission of VOCs.