In the near term, and likely substitutes in the long term, most experts look to alternative fuel options and technologies as promising complements (or replacements) to petroleum. There are major reasons as to why there is the desire of replacing oil with some other available options;
Scarcity­ since there will be no oil eventually over a given period. Security­ because of the many external costs associated with it, there is a reduction in consumption. Energy supply insecurity and the corresponding need for resource diversification linger over manufactures in various industries because fossil fuels face the prospect of depletion, hence cost increases of conventional oil and gas occurrences. Another concerning factor is the adverse impacts of climate change and local air pollution as a result of fossil–fuel burning related emissions (De
Vries, B. J., et. al., 2007).
Natural gas is one of the most automatic, abundant, and available options, for instance, millions of cars in South America and Asia use natural gas (Engerer, H., & Horn, M., 2010) as an alternative fuel. It is available at a lower price, governments offer tax incentives (such as breaks and credits) for consumers, in addition, not much is needed to produce it in terms of technical alterations. People do not use this alternative as much due to the fact that cars that use natural gas have large tanks or their level of range is low.
There are two major components involved in replacing gasoline with electricity in vehicles; battery life/source, and power lines with long distance rail. One of the barriers towards applying this is the cost factor; it is just too expensive. During the course of this class I have learned that there is an abundant amount of sun and wind in the west, making it prime real estate for Solar and Wind Power Plants, however, these regions are utilized for agricultural purposes such as farms and pastures. When the industry has waste from such agricultural practices, it can be diverted into energy for electricity (Biomass). Biomass is the most common form of renewable energy, widely used in the third world for electricity until recently, and less so in the
Western world, (McKendry, P. 2002) nevertheless, the amount of agricultural residues is about
61 million ton a year, of which 41 million ton, which is equivalent to about 426 PJ of Biomass energy, was unused (S. Prasertsan & B. Sajjakulnukit, 2006). Sun, Wind, and Biomass potentials