Cleaner & Clean Fuels

"Cleaner" and "clean" are relative terms:

• Natural gas is cleaner than coal or oil when used to generate electricity, and it is even cleaner when used to simultaneously generate both power and heat. It also is cleaner than standard fuels when used in specialized vehicles.
• Biodiesel is a cleaner fuel because it has both biofuel and conventional diesel components. Pure biodiesel is clean, incorporating no conventional diesel fuel, and it is green, derived from plant matter.
• Hydrogen has potential as the ultimate clean and green fuel: It can be derived from water, with renewable resources as the only energy input.

In the Cape & Islands region, microturbines and other "cogeneration" systems running on natural gas are being used to produce heat and electricity, and Keyspan's fleet vehicles are fueled by compressed natural gas. Biodiesel is being consumed to power cars, trucks, buses, construction equipment, and other machines. It is also being substituted for fuel oil in home heating systems.

Unfortunately, the fuel cell systems installed in cogeneration applications at Cape Cod Community College and at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod have failed.

This section will describe cleaner fuels and the technologies employed to transform them into useful energy, and it will identify existing uses and possible applications in local communities.

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Last updated 02.11.05

 

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