A Century Long Pursuit of Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks

<p>The United States has dramatically increased its production of alternative fuels over the past seven years. With the passing of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) alternative fuel production will increase in the United States over 700% from 2005 levels. However the pursuit of petroleum alternatives is not a recent trend. Over the last 100 years various nations have pursued petroleum alternatives with varying levels of success. This research focuses on the historical development of 10 leading alternative fuels and feedstocks. Through a thorough literature review we will identify commonalities among these fuels and feedstocks which have hindered their adoption. Further the research evaluates the 10 alternative fuels and feedstocks with text mining software to support findings from the literature review. This research finds that alternative fuels face significant challenges with regards to environmental impacts technological maturity and societal costs. Further these petroleum alternatives have rarely been economical solutions. The research findings suggest that while there are National Security reasons for pursuing petroleum alternatives rarely are there economic ones.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>