Future Fuels: Biofuel, Battery, And Hydrogen Fuel Cells For A Sustainable Tomorrow

Alternatives to Fossil Fuels: Biofuel, Battery, and Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Discuss about the Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion.

Future fuels can be used as the fuels which help in specialising in a waste of energy with a strong passion to help and create a better tomorrow for the future generations by improving the way in which the energy is using. There is a need to have the alternative options for future fuel as the natural resources are depleting with a very fast speed. Fossil fuel can be defined as the natural fuel which can be coal or gas. They are formed in the geological past from the remaining of the living organism. When the living organism is buried and after some years they are converted into the fossils which can be further used for the production of energy. Fossil is also the renewable source of energy.  The decomposing of organism takes longer time around 650 million converting into the fossil fuel (Ehsani, 2018). The alternative options are for future fuel are find out that includes the Biofuel, battery and hydrogen fuel cells (York, 2012). All the alternatives have its uses in its own way. All can be used for the future use and sustain for a long time.

Cars are used in our day to day lives and become a basic necessity of the life. However, there are major issues which should be concerned. These issues are regarding the fuels which are used in the vehicles and will lead to increase in the pollution. Increase in pollution affects the environmental conditions of the countries. Some precautions steps should be taken so that the pollution can be reduced and the fuels emission can be controlled. There are few alternatives available for fuel to replace the fuel used today like petrol, diesel, LPG etc.  Using the alternatives in fuel which can be used in can be affordable for a normal person (Road Show, 2009). There can be three possible alternatives available which can be used in the car. These include the biofuel, electric or battery cars and hydrogen fuel cells (Allcott & Wozny, 2014).

The automotive industry has a extensive variety of companies and organizations involved in the project, growth and manufacturing of the new products and designs while doing the marketing and selling of motor vehicles. This motor vehicle is run by the fuels which are depleting day by day. So this automotive industry is also required to find out some solution for the same. The substitute for these fuels can be the use of the biofuel, batteries in car or use of the hydrogen fuel cells (Tomczak, Reinecke & Kuss, 2018).

The Automotive Industry and Future Fuels

Biofuel can be defined as the fuel which is generated through the biological process. This fuel is created by the living organism that is plant or algae material or animal waste.   Biofuel can be used as the replacement for the fuels like LPG, diesel and petrol. Biofuel is found to be very advantageous as this will help us to reduce the use of crude oil in the country and help in controlling the pollution in the area. Biofuel keeps the environment clean in certain ways. This fuel is found easy to make (Zhang & Shreeve, 2013).

Another substitute can be the electricity or the car run by the battery which is found to be very effective and efficient in nature as they are run on the batteries and there is no emission of the harmful gases into the atmosphere. It will help to build the good environment. Also, the batteries used in the car are reusable and repurposing in nature.  These batteries are recyclable in nature and can also be used in the same automobiles application, given that the battery is in good condition to use (Dicks & Rand, 2018).

Battery technology has come 20 years ago. The current industry’s golden child, the lithium-ion battery, is a remarkable piece of technology.  This type of battery is light in weight and holds more energy than any other else battery. These batteries are more efficient in nature and had the long history of batteries that precedes it.  The lithium-ion batteries are used by the almost in all the consumer electronics (Goldstein, 2018).

The third alternative can be the use of the hydrogen fuel cells. It will work as a great replacement for the fossil fuels. Hydrogen can be obtained from the many sources. These sources include the air and other domestic resources. Hydrogen has the potential for having the zero greenhouse gas emission in the atmosphere which is very beneficial to the environment and habitats living there. It only releases the water vapor and warm air (Allcott & Wozny, 2014).

In the recent years, the automotive industry has to adopt these changes which are prevailing in the environment. The natural resources are depleting with a very fast speed, so to have fuels for the future generation some alternatives should find out today and start implementing in the environment. To have the active adaptation of these alternatives in the environment these should be made cost-effective for the person to use. The maximum reach of these alternatives can be made when these will be affordable by the person. The transition should be done from use of petrol to the use of these substitutes (Sharaf & Orhan, 2014)

Benefits of Biofuel

The change goal or vision in the automotive industry is to make such alternatives which can be used in future when the natural resources are no more exist. By 2030, the automobile industry wants to grab the 50% share while having the use of hydrogen fuel cells in the market (Sanyal, 2018).

The goals of the automotive industry have been changed when they analyse the need for the change in the environment. When the industry realizes that in near future the fossils are no more to run the cars. When industry found that their employment and business are going to dip down due to the scarcity of the resource, then the need for innovation in the fuels arise. The industry should start work on generating and creating the new substitutes for the same. Industry tries to develop such vehicles in the market according to the future needs and requirements of the people. The testing of the vehicle produced should be check by using the surveys and pilot testing. The use and benefits of using these substitutes and vehicles should be communicated to the people at large and spreading the awareness of using the same. The need for using this type of vehicle should be communicated through the use of media at large (Sadeghinezhad, Kazi, Sadeghinejad, Badarudin, Mehrali, Sadri & Safaei, 2014).

After communicating the use and need of such type of vehicle in the market, the launch of such vehicles will be done by the industry in one year. Early prevention is better in vehicles as they are the basic necessity now for each and every individual. After the launch of the vehicle, the marketing and promotion of the vehicle are done in the market at large scale. The product developed should be simple enough so that it can be understood by the people easily. The acceptability of this type of vehicle can be made in the market when they are affordable for them and their life will be long as the cars and vehicle run by the fossil fuels (Sallee, West, & Fan, 2016).

In the next 20-30years, the only fuel remains for running the car will be hydrogen fuel cells. This fuel is a renewable source of energy which will be suitable and perfect for the long-term plan. These hydrogen fuel cells can be produced anywhere irrespective of the climatic conditions and other factors. These fuels are also helpful in producing the electricity to make the automobile work and they did not need to charge the car. This leads to the normal usage of the electricity which will not lead to any kind of pollution in the environment. Also, these types of car have the good mileage as compared to others. According to the SOS California, the models of the hydrogen fuel cell car take less than 10 minutes to fill the tanks and ranges from 200-300miles which is almost same as any petrol or diesel cars today (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014).

Battery Technology and Efficiency

The hydrogen fuel has more energy-rich per kilogram than petrol or battery-powered electric cars. It does not produce harmful gases in the emission; it only produces the water as exhaust. Hydrogen fuel vehicles have a capacity to faster fuels than the electric cars (Krupa, 2014). The fuel cells have higher efficiency than diesel and gas engines and are more powerful also. Fuel cells can substitute the pollution caused by the burning of the natural resources that is fossil fuels; for hydrogen fuel cells, the only by-product at a point of use is water. These hydrogen fuel cells have more resistance and have low-temperature fuel cells. They are ideal for the military purpose also as they have the low heat transmission also as its characteristics (McGlade & Ekins, 2015).

From the graph, it can be clearly viewed that the user of the biofuel is good for maintaining the atmosphere in the environment. Use of biofuel is better than the use of the diesel, crude oil and harmful fuel which contributes to the depletion of ozone layer.

The discoveries of huge petroleum deposits kept gasoline and diesel cheap for years and hydrogen fuel cells is largely ignored by the people as it is quietly expensive rather than these fossils. However, in the recent years, the rise in the oil prices moves the customer to shift towards the hydrogen fuel cells. Another concern for moving towards this hydrogen fuel is the environment protection from the global warming caused by the emission of the carbon dioxide (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014).

Cars are a major source of the atmospheric carbon dioxide, the main reason for the greenhouse gas that causes the global warming. But with the use of hydrogen fuel cell, the emission is only of the water vapour which will not affect the environment. The change in the use of fossils is necessary to do because the natural resources are depleting at a very fast speed and resources are scarce in nature. So the need to find out the substitution is very necessary to have the use of cars and vehicles. Oil is limited resources that come from the specific material whereas biofuels can be manufactured easily from the wide range of the materials which include the wastage of crops, manure and other waste by-products. This can be also called the recycling of the resources (Brynolf,  Fridell & Andersson, 2014).

From the graph, it is evident that the use of the hydrogen fuel cells is more effective in use with the passing of time. In the year 2006, the cost incurred in producing the hydrogen cells is much more than the producing the hydrogen today. The use of hydrogen cell is effective as well as efficient in nature. In year 2006, producing the hydrogen fuel cell cost $124/kW. But producing the hydrogen fuel cell today will cost only $50/kW which the company trying to reduce more so that ach and everyone can able to afford it. The industry is targeting to reduce it to $40/kW by the end of the year 2020 which will be proved to be an excellent performance in the automotive industry. The ultimate target of the automotive industry is to reach the cost to only $30/kW in the future (Mohr, Wang, Ellem, Ward & Giurco, 2015)..

Hydrogen Fuel Cells: Renewable and Efficient

Another aspect that can be taken into consideration is that the fossils take so much of the time to produce whereas the hydrogen fuel cells can be made easily and in less period of time. The production of hydrogen fuel cells can be made locally whereas the fossils have to be exported from the place of production to the place of consumption. Biofuels are important in view of the nations. It became the country and nation self-reliant as they do not have to depend on the foreign energy (Yoo, Markevich, Salitra, Sharon & Aurbach, 2014).

The Six model framework is made by the American Analyst Marvin Weisbord to assess the functioning of the business. It is a general framework and can be applied to a wide variety of organization. This approach gives importance to the planning, incentives and rewards. The approach focuses on the inputs and outputs of the business. The six box model is comprised of the following components:

The purpose refers to the type of business run by the company. In the purpose the nature and size of the business is discussed. The current market of the business and the market in which the company is planning to move are highlighted in this. Moving towards the development of future fuels by the automotive companies, they have to expand their operations in the new areas of sustainability (Qureshi, Zaman & Shah, 2010). The sustainability should be achieved while considering the protection to the environment.

The structure of the organization depicts how division of the work will be done so that the specialisation in the organization can be achieved in less period of time. In automobile industry, the work of developing the future fuel by hydrogen should be done by dividing the work in different department so that work can be done in less span of time.

The relationship between the levels of management has been maintained in the organization. The decision by the management should be taken in the way that will reduce the conflicts among the organization and the spirit of coordination and integrity will be there. Not only the coordination is required in human resource but the coordination is also maintained with the technologies used in the organization. The conflicts should be handled effectively whenever it arises.  The relation between the industry and environment should be made in such a way that the new development will not harm the environment.

From Innovation to Implementation: Transitioning to Future Fuels

A reward refers to the incentive connected with the performance. When the company is forcing the employees to produce innovative and sustainable fuel for the environment, it should be given some incentives. The employees who give the innovative ideas and take steps to implement the same should be given some part above then the salary. It will develop the positive culture in the business that will run from top to bottom. In developing the hydrogen fuel cells by the employees, the incentives will be offered to the employees (Jehanzeb, Rasheed & Rasheed, 2012).

The leadership is maintaining the balance between the leader and its subordinates in the organization. Coordinating, communicating and motivating the employees is the work of leader which will help the business to have effective innovative idea in the business. When the organization has positive culture, it will reflect in the work performed by the individuals. The leader should promote the measures to protect the environment while making the substitutes for fuel.

The helpful mechanism refers to the coordinating the technologies in the business. The technology new adopted and developed in the business should be managed properly. In the automobile industry, the introduction of hydrogen fuel cells should be made done with coordinating with all the resources available. And coordination should be done in a way such that the environment will always be protected (Durmusoglu,  Jacobs, Zamantili Nayir, Khilji & Wang, 2014).

The ethical implication is that the hydrogen fuel cell should be used by the industry for the future fuels. The ethical issue that should be concerned when producing the hydrogen fuel cells is that the development of biofuel should not be made at the expense of the people essential right that means the sufficient food, water, health rights should not be hampered. The use of hydrogen fuel cells should be environmentally sustainable. Hydrogen fuel cells should contribute to the net reduction of the global warming effect and greenhouses gases. Another ethical implication should be considered can be the distribution of cost and benefit of it on the equitable grounds (Plötz, Schneider, Globisch & Dütschke, 2014).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that there is need to produce the alternatives for the future fuel consumption. The fossils fuels are insufficient to meet the requirements of the individuals as the quantity demanded by the individuals is more and the natural resources are less to fulfil the needs and demand of all. So to overcome this problem of scarcity in the resources, various other alternatives are taken by the country in which three alternatives are identified for the substitution of the car fuel. All these have its advantages as well as its disadvantages. The biofuel, electricity or use of batteries and use of hydrogen fuel cells are the three alternatives for the future use of a car by using these fuels. As fossil are depleting with time.

The Future of Fuels: Hydrogen Fuel Cells

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