| The increasing harmful effects of greenhouse | | | | to the corrosive effect of the |
| gases from car emissions are being felt by | | | | biomass-derived fuel. Parts such as the Volvo |
| almost every country in the world. Due to | | | | valve cover gasket, fuel hoses and different |
| this, effort has been put to the development | | | | seals have been also modified for use with |
| of cars that will use alternative fuels for | | | | the ethanol based fuel. The injection valves |
| it has been proven that such vehicles would | | | | are likewise reinforced and increased in size |
| be actually able to help produce less or no | | | | due to the fact that E85 has lower energy |
| harmful emissions at all. | | | | content than gasoline. Hence a larger amount |
| | | | of fuel needs to be burned to give the engine |
| The choice of alternative fuels is great but | | | | the same power produced by gasoline-only |
| the efficiency of these possible energy | | | | engines. |
| sources is still in question. Problems still | | | | |
| arise from the use of alternative fuels to | | | | The use of ethanol as fuel is a good step |
| which dedicated companies are investing time, | | | | towards harnessing alternative renewable |
| effort, and money to find solutions to. One | | | | sources of energy but it has its drawbacks. |
| of the first mass produced cars to address | | | | Problems experienced by ethanol powered |
| the problem is the Toyota Prius which uses an | | | | vehicles includes, but is not limited to, the |
| electric motor to drive the car though in a | | | | negative effect it has on electric fuel pumps |
| very limited capacity only. Other companies | | | | by increasing internal wear due to the fuel's |
| are also developing cars which will not only | | | | corrosive nature. E85 is also not compatible |
| provide good performance but, at the same | | | | with capacitance fuel level gauging |
| time, help in the campaign to protect the | | | | indicators which may result on erroneous fuel |
| environment. | | | | quantity indications. Another question on |
| | | | the ethanol's use as fuel is the manner by |
| One such company is Volvo - the Ford Motor | | | | which it is produced. While cars which use |
| Company subsidiary based in Sweden which is | | | | this kind of fuel decrease our dependency on |
| known for their safety-first attitude towards | | | | fossil fuels, the process to produce ethanol |
| the production of their cars. The company | | | | actually means having to use fossil fuels. |
| has developed a Flexi-Fuel system that allows | | | | |
| the car's engine to work on a combination of | | | | Whether the decrease in the emission of car |
| ethanol and gasoline. This technology is | | | | is greater than the release of harmful |
| already being employed by some of their car | | | | greenhouse gases from the process of |
| models available in selected European market. | | | | producing ethanol remains to be seen. While |
| These models are the newly unveiled Volvo | | | | ethanol is priced lower than gasoline, the |
| C30, the S40 sedan and the V50 wagon. Their | | | | ethanol's energy content is lower than that |
| fuel of choice is the E85 - the 85 denotes | | | | of petrol which means that the engine will |
| the percentage of bio-ethanol in the engine's | | | | need larger amount of fuel in every intake |
| fuel with the other 15 per cent being | | | | stroke. This fact poses a question whether |
| gasoline. The combination reduces the cars' | | | | using E85 will increase the cost incurred by |
| emission of harmful greenhouse gases by as | | | | the consumer on their fuel consumption. |
| much as 80 per cent without endangering the | | | | |
| cars' performance level. | | | | The use of ethanol on a mass produced car is |
| | | | just a small step in harnessing alternative |
| The engine of the cars which employs the | | | | sources of energy. This technology alone |
| FlexiFuel technology has been modified | | | | cannot single-handedly resolve the global |
| slightly to accommodate the corrosive nature | | | | community's dependence on the fast-depleting |
| of ethanol. The different components which | | | | reserve of fossil fuels but it is a |
| come in direct contact with the fuel have | | | | significant step forward. |
| been fortified to increase their resistance | | | | |