...SPS: To inform my audience of the benefits of alternative fuel vehicles, and their impact on the environment. Central Idea: In order to understand the benefits of alternative fuel vehicles, one must gain an understanding of the most common alternative fuels available today, as well as the vehicles currently on the market, and how they impact the environment. Intro: I. By a show of hands how many of you own a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle? A.) Congratulations, those of you that raised your hands, you’re helping the environment. B.) For those of you who didn’t raise your hand, I am going to share with you today the benefits of alternative fuel vehicles, and their impact on the environment. C.) Spent the last several weeks researching this topic, and have come up with some great information I would like to share with you tonight. D.) I will cover some of the most common alternative fuels used today, and the types of vehicles that are on the market today, along with their impact on the environment. Body: I. There are four most common types of alternative fuels. I will briefly review them, and their benefits. A. Ethanol – The United States Department of Transportation defines ethanol as a renewable resource made from various plant materials, and can be blended with gasoline in various quantities. 1. Already used in Brazil since 1920s, and is derived from sugarcane (Bourne 2007). 2. Ethanol in the United States is derived from corn. 3. Per the US Department of...
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...Alternative fuel vehicles are defined as those vehicles that run on fuel other than "traditional" petroleum fuels such as gasoline or diesel. Alternative fuel vehicles also refers to vehicles that supplement gasoline and diesel fuels with other sources of power, as in hybrid electric vehicles. From a historical standpoint, alternative fuel vehicles have been around for about a century. Early developments were spurred on by profit-seeking entrepreneurs—such was the case of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company’s steam engine vehicles from the early 1900’s, and as well as by the limited the access to fuel. (Augustine, 2011) When World War II began, fuel became scarce. New innovations for an alternative to gasoline and diesel led to the use of steam powered cars with ordinary internal combustion engines Today, a number of factors including environmental concerns, increasing oil demand, and rising oil production costs, have caused extensive research and development efforts for cleaner alternative fuels and energy efficient vehicles. In the past few years the demand for alternative fueled has increased with the increase of oil prices. Alternative fueled vehicles are the future mode of transportation for all of us. However, the rate in which alternative fueled vehicles will take over our current vehicles depends on how well these cars are economically feasible and how technologically efficient the vehicles are. I believe that if the manufacturers can make these alternatively...
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...An Approach to Alternative Fuel Vehicle Rentals As one of the leading car rental companies, Lotus car rental is in a position to take advantage of a great opportunity. This is an opportunity to be one of the first car rental companies to provide our consumers with alternative options to fuel-powered vehicles, and to rise above the competition. Adding alternative fuel vehicles to our car rental fleet will increase our car rental turnover and improve the company's image to consumers. In this presentation, we will demonstrate that adding alternative fuel vehicles to our fleet of rental cars will reap tremendous rewards. This presentation will provide you with the advantages of providing alternative fuel vehicles and a cost benefit analysis. At the end of this presentation, you will see that alternative fuel vehicles will not only lower operating costs, but will also provide a new perspective on marketing campaigns and will set us apart from our competition. With the rising cost of gas prices continuing to increase on a daily basis, renting a car is fast becoming a greater expense to business travelers and family vacations. Driving cross-country for the summer with the entire family is quickly becoming a thing of the past due to the expense. Business travelers and families can no longer afford to rent larger vehicles. Their only option is to settle for a smaller car or pay at the pump. At current gas prices, a 3,500- mile adventure would cost the consumer $7,140.00 in gas in...
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...Lotus Car Rental Alternative Fuel Assessment Erik Larson, Linda Sherman, Christopher Sessoms Comm/215 February 2, 2013 Winifred Winstead Donnelly Introduction The creation of a fleet of alternative fuel sourced automobiles would be a wise decision for the Lotus Car Rental Company. There are two major issues that are on the minds of people these days, the environment and money. By creating a fleet of alternative fuel based automobiles the Lotus Rental Care Company can help ease the fears of people in both categories. By having the ingenuity to have a fleet of alternative fuel automobiles; the Lotus Car Rental will set themselves apart from the rest of the rental car companies. Lotus Car Care will be the leaders in environmentally safe car rentals. The following research paper will discuss the background of this topic, the costs of working with alternative fuel automobiles, the technical aspects of alternative fuel, the environmental aspects of alternative fuel as well as discuss some recommendations for the Lotus Car Rental Company. Background The Lotus Car Rental Company is looking into adding a fleet of alternative fuel sourced vehicles to their supply. Alternative fuel sourced vehicles are classified as being resources other than petroleum. A few of these sources are produced here locally and some are derived from renewable sources. They often produce less pollution than does gasoline. ("Alternative Fuel Vehicles", 2012). Hybrids are also considered to...
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...Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 The Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 is a law that gives incentives to motor vehicle companies to create more fuel-efficient vehicles. Since its inception, newer fuel standards and laws have been established. However, this act was one of the first to investigate alternative fuels. Purpose * The Act requested that the Secretary of State study the fuel efficiency of alternative fuels such as alcohol, natural gas or dual energy vehicles. The bill also established a line of credit for car companies to build cars using alternative fuels, specifically ethanol-based fuels. Interagency Commission * The bill also established the government commission called the Interagency Commission on Alternative Motor Fuels. The Commission was supposed to conduct studies on alternative fuels and inform the Congress its results in 1992. The commission reported on the promises of ethanol- and methanol-based fuels and argued for more public transportation infrastructure. Aftermath * Consumers did not see the full result of this plan since ethanol-based gas had little distribution in the United States. Only in 2005, when the Renewable Fuels Standard passed, did ethanol stations and E85 fuel -- gasoline mixed with 5 to 10 percent ethanol -- pop up across the country. Currently, 15 percent of the gasoline sold in the United States is E85 fuel. http://www.ehow.com/facts_7396832_alternative-motor-fuels-act-1988.html#ixzz2jRoYRBMW Library of...
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...A Report On Electricity and Magnetism- Source of alternative fuel in Transportation Contents S.No Topic Page 1. Introduction 3-4 2. Hybrid Power 4 3. Smoke free trains 4-5 4. Electricity and renewable fuel alternatives 5-6 5. Magnetism as source of power 6-7 6. Conclusion 7Introduction- In the modern era, Electricity is considered to be the most important and necessary resource in day to day life. People around the world are directly or indirectly dependent on this form of energy. Although it is very important source of energy but its overuse and misuse led to a critical issue of unavailability of it in many rural areas. The utility of electricity is numerous, in fact it is most common source of energy used in every appliances, equipments and machines in industries, households etc. In other words, we can call it to be the basis of livelihood in this world after air, water and food. The usage of electricity was primarily considered to be in household appliances and industries but after the introduction of electricity in the world of transportation, it became a remarkable breakthrough in the field of science and technology. It gave a vision of saving non renewable sources of energy such as coal and petrol for the transportation purpose and also helped to eliminate the problem of ever increasing release of toxic gases which are produced during the burning of coal and petrol. It is a serious matter of concern for the scientists...
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...Alternative Fuels, Why bother? Over the years, fossil fuels have been the most popular form of fuel utilized in our every day transportation needs. Although fossil fuels are effective as our current energy source, the time is approaching where society will have to shift from fossil fuels towards utilizing alternative fuel sources. There are several factors contributing towards the shift from fossil fuels to using new alternative fuel sources. The primary reason for this shift is the rise in costs for harvesting, manufacturing and distributing the necessary basic components of gasoline. The increase in manufacturing costs has been passed on to the consumer in the form of increased gas prices. The average price paid per gallon in 2009 is $2.54, compared to $1.11 in 2001 (Energy Information Administration, 2009.) Additional factors contributing to the increase in gas production and distribution are due to the fact that fossil fuel reservoirs are not readily replenished and therefore, provided enough time has passed, our current stores will be depleted and society will be forced to rely on a new energy source. Additional factors contributing towards our need to switch to alternative fuels include the increase in foreign oil dependence to acquire fuel, the rise in air pollution, and the processing and distribution of these alternative fuels are more cost effective. Therefore, based on this and additional rationale, politicians and environmentalists should push for more funding...
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...Alternative Fuel Company Case Cristin Johnson BUS632: Advanced Logistics Ashford University Instructor: Matthew Keogh July 12, 2016 Alternative Fuel Company Case For this assignment I will refer to the Barwood Cab Fleet Study of alternative fuel. Barwood based in Kensington, Maryland incorporated the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles with a limited number in 1996. As one of the reasons to use the CNG vehicles was incentives which the local gas utility offered. This company has been in operation for over 30 years, being a family owned business with a fleet of some 400 vehicles which serves more than 5,000 customers on a daily basis. Like most cab companies the cabs are assigned to individual drivers as independent contractors, paying a daily rent in order to use Barwoods vehicles. “Of course, cost is still an issue with many alternative sources of fuel, according to Chuck Combs, who is the program lead for alternative energy at China Lake and provides the Navy and Marine Corps with technical expertise in solar and fuel cell efforts”. (Hillburn, 2007) Here will be discussed how the alternative fuel automobile company has a first year market forecast of 1000 units by identifying the forecasting model with an explanation of why it is the obvious choice, while during the first three years of operation the automobile company had actual sales of: year one 800 units, year two 1200 units, year three 2000 units and by using...
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...Adding Alternative Fuel Vehicles to Lotus Rental Car In an effort to bring down the gasoline cost for his fleet, Lotus Car's Chief Financial Officer is looking at the possibility of adding alternative fuel vehicles to its fleet. To make a sound decision, she decided to hire a consultant firm that would review and determine if implementing the addition of alternative vehicles would benefit the company. By performing thorough research, the consultants will first perform a comparison between gas vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles. The consultant will then determine the advantages and disadvantages of adding alternative vehicles to Lotus Rental Car Company. Before the decision is made to add alternative-fuel vehicles to the Lotus fleet, we need to determine if AFVs truly are a feasible option. We must first acquire an understanding of alternative-fuel vehicles. As discovered in our research, there are currently a wide variety of alternative-fuel vehicles being used today. Alternative-fuel vehicles can operate on fuels other than gasoline or diesel. They come in a variety of forms, from commuter cars to large 18-wheelers. Using alternative fuels helps reduce our nation's dependence on imported oil and improves air quality. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) defines alternative fuels as electricity, ethanol, natural gas, propane, methanol, hydrogen, and biodiesel (U.S. Department of Energy, What is the Energy Policy Act of 1992, para. 2). Gas prices all over the world have...
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...Viability of Adding Alternative Fuel Vehicles to Lotus Rental Car Fleet The focus of this paper is to estimate the importance and feasibility of adding alternative fuel vehicles to the Lotus Rental Car fleet. This paper is addressed to the Chief Financial Officer. There are many types of alternative fuel vehicles (AFV); however, this paper will be focusing on hybrid vehicles. The discussion will cover the overview of existing operations, the advantages and disadvantages of adding AFV’s, the summary of the examination, and the recommendations on why and how it should be implemented. Current Fleet Status The Current fleet size for sister companies, Alamo, Enterprise and National, carry nearly 450,000 cars combined that achieve 28 mpg or better. The introduction of EPACT in 1992 introduced AFV’s into the US market, where they were mainly used by government agencies. The common term used to describe AFV vehicles is light duty vehicle (LDV). In addition, federal fleets are required to use dual-fuel vehicles unless a waiver is granted. Because of high oil consumption in the US transportation sector, concerns about national energy usage began to rise. This raised many questions regarding the resulting environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. An example of this was in 2008, when it was estimated that the transportation sector emitted 1,930 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which represents a 33.2 per cent share of total carbon dioxide emission from all sectors...
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...Alternative fuel sources should take the place of fossil fuels because it will create a less contaminated environment such as using biofuel instead of conventional diesel. Creating and using Biofuel is better for the environment. Biofuel is becoming more readily available to consumers. Using Biodiesel in the transportation industry will reduce carbon emissions. What is “Biofuel” (Speight, 2008, p. 221), and how can we use it to decrease the effects of pollutants our air from transportation? “Biofuel” is created from “Biomass”, “Biomass is a renewable energy resource” (Speight, 2008, p. 221), that we should utilize. For example, “Biomass” can be obtained from crops, wood, and municipal and industrial waste (Speight, 2008, p. 222) because the carbon in “biofuels” has been already used by the plants, when it is rereleased into our atmosphere, it does not add more carbon into our environment (Speight, 2008, p. 241). “Biodiesel can be made from a variety of sources. Typically, alcohol is mixed with fats, oils, or greases from vegetable or animal sources. It is a bit like running your car on a can of supercharged Crisco. “ (Harrington, 2008, p. 118) Biodiesel can be used as an additive to reduce emissions from vehicles, and it can be used in its raw form for diesel engines. (Energy, 2010) “Biofuels are important because they replace petroleum fuels and can be used to fuel vehicles, but can also fuel engines or fuel cells for electricity generation” (Speight, 2008, p. 241)...
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...Bell Alternate-Fueled Vehicles Going green is becoming more and more popular with advances in technology. One way is to own a vehicle that uses other than fossil fuels. Automobiles in the last 10 years have evolved from using gasoline and diesel as a primary power source, and now include features once only seen in luxury cars. Introducing them to a rental car company may give it more of a variety to offer its customers. Introduction This paper is to introduce the idea of the integration of alternate-fueled vehicles into the Lotus Rental Car Company and the feasibility to do so to the Chief Financial Officer. There are numerous factors to consider. A large purchase, especially for vehicles, requires in-depth research and weighing of advantages and disadvantages that need to be evaluated. Alternate Fuel Sources There are a few power source options when looking to buy or lease alternate fueled vehicles; ethanol; flex-fuel; hybrid; electric; and natural gas. Alternate fuel source seem to be attractive for consumers as the high prices for fossil fuels continue to climb. With the purchase of new fuel-saving vehicles in mind, each fuel source will be examined. Each type of fuel does have its own great benefit as well as drawback. Ethanol Ethanol is a fuel that is usually comprised of 10% gasoline and 90% ethanol. The more commonly known mixture is 15% and 85% called E85. Internal combustion engines are able to utilize this type of fuel with modifications made...
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...in the market. Currently the U.S. Government has imposed regulations on the Automotive Industry affecting the environment, safety, and fuel efficiency of vehicles. These three features will continue to cause new regulations to be passed which will push the automotive industry to the brink of success or failure. The future outlook of these vehicles would be: Technology that will prevent crashes, additional safety features that will keep the people safe in a crash, environmentally friendly vehicles, alternative fuel sources, minimum fuel efficiency of 50 plus mpg, and many other regulations that will protect the environment and also protect the person. The market trend for these possible future regulations will either cause the “Big Three” to find the resources to comply with the regulations or they will fail and the company would go under. Government regulations appeal to consumers and consumers determine the market trends. “Government intervention can be a huge catalyst for growth.” (http://www.csmauto.com/news/csminsights/2010/01/Government+Regulations+Can+Drive+Industry+Growth) These regulations will provide a product that is appealing to the consumer which in theory would increase sales to the “Big Three”. The fine line is that it will cost too much money in research and development that it would increase the price of the vehicle making it too costly to the consumer. This would in turn cause massive layoffs, closing production plants and essentially provide a negative...
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...used as a transportation fuel. It is being blended in to gasoline at concentrations of five percent to ten percent for use in motor vehicles. The main ingredient in ethanol is corn, a renewable resource that is in abundance in the United States. Brazil is the leading producer in ethanol, and vehicles there have been running on 100% ethanol for many years (consumerenergycenter.org, 2013). While ethanol seems to be the answer to renewable fuel sources, there are both advantages and disadvantages to using this product. The most obvious advantage of using ethanol is the benefits to the environment. Vehicles that are fueled by ethanol produce much lower carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide than those using gasoline (West. 2013), and because this fuel source is made from plants, the carbon dioxide it does emit is recycled back to reproduce the product. A study published by Yale University's Journal of Industrial Ecology found that GHG emissions from ethanol produced at modern dry-mill facilities are "... equivalent to a 48 percent to 59 percent reduction compared to gasoline, a twofold to threefold greater reduction than reported in previous studies." (www.ethanolrfa.org, 2013). Another great advantage is that ethanol is readily available in many countries around the world. In the United States, it is made with corn, and produced in the Midwestern states like Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. In Brazil, it is made with sugar cane, and is widely used as a primary fuel source. Possibly the greatest...
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...Europe and America to China and India. Although America is recovering steadily and slowly but the World’s economy is being balanced by this shift of trading power in the globe. With this shift in the paradigm are shifting the market conditions as well. Drastic changes in the global environment have resulted in change of pattern of spending by the world. Scarcity of resources is raising its head in the world, so is the concept of conservation seeing the light of the sun in this world. Wars and specially cold wars have got a serious role in it. With these we have come across a realization that fuel is really a commodity which is getting scarce or it may become something in future for that war would be fought for. With this realization a concept of changed spending pattern in getting reinforced. With the realization of this thinking the world has stated moving towards the invention of alternatives to this scarce resource. As it was being stated by Nelson And Winter in 1982 that routines would help us determine and understand that how...
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