Alternative Low Emission Fuels to Power your Car

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Alternative Low Emission Fuels to Power your Car

This guest post is by David Beastall writing on behalf of Northern Energy.

Everybody’s familiar with petroleum gas and diesel fuels, however there are other alternative energy sources for powering your car once converted that have benefits you might not have considered before.

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LPG (also known as LP Gas) is short for liquefied petroleum gas, which is a form of fuel that is stored in its liquid state and vaporised immediately before combustion. When it’s used for powering cars it’s typically referred to as Auto Gas. LPG is a more cost effective fuel than traditional diesel or petroleum, however like many alternative automobile and vehicle fuels it does not have as widespread adoption or coverage as traditional gas when it comes to supply and refilling.

Many large branded energy supply companies have separate LPG tanks located within their gas and refilling stations. As well as being a considerably less expensive alternative, it’s also a cleaner burning fuel resulting in less waste and C02 emissions being emitted from the exhaust.

Bio Fuel

Bio fuel stems from crops such as corn, rapeseed or flax which are specifically harvested in order to produce alternative vehicle fuels. Unlike Petroleum based fuels, bio-fuels derived from organic bio-mass plant matter such as the above. Unlike refined petroleum they are completely non-toxic and don’t have adverse affects on the environment.

As the world’s natural resources become depleted it is predicted there will be a market shift towards focusing on further mass production of these types of fuels in conjunction with improved technology used in both production and fuel consumption. However there have been concerns that the price of food (particularly Maize and Sugar) would increase as companies seek to switch to crops used in fuel production rather than food suitable for human consumption.

Electric Cars

Electric powered cars in particular have seen the biggest increase in popularity of all the alternatively powered cars. States like California have adopted the electric car in a big way, and other international cities such as London continue to improve and increase adoption.

There are not many countries that yet claim you can use purely electric energy to power your car from one side of the country to the other; however hybrids powered vehicles exist for this very reason.

Some of the things being done to encourage further adoption of electric powered vehicles include the introduction of hybrid grid/solar powered electric stations. Newer standards mean that it will soon be possible to charge an electric car in up to 20 minutes as opposed to 12 hours.

Particular energy companies are also making available specifically adapted home charging technology that will further help to make an electric car a more realistic and appealing consumer option.

In addition there are a number of government grants, tax breaks and incentive schemes in place that mean new electric cars are an affordable option for much of the public.


Whilst all of these alternatives are more or less continuing to increase in popularity and adoption you need to consider your individual situation as some may be unsuitable for you, for obvious reasons such as availability within your particular area.

One thing that all of these alternative fuels have in common over their traditionally more available counter-parts is that individuals are usually eligible for tax breaks that will reduce the costs of running a car or vehicle as well as the positive environmental impact this will have on our communities.


David Beastall is an environmental blogger writing on behalf of Northern Energy.

About David Beastall

David Beastall blogs about the environment, sustainability and green living.

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