Alternative fuels estimated costs

NRC estimated costs of alternative fuels, including incremental vehicle costs, compared to oil at 20 per barrel. 

It was assumed that the power plant will be financed from revenue bonding. Therefore, reasonable estimates were made for interest on bonds, interest earned and expended during cor)struction, and bond discounts. Working capital and the debt reserve fund were assumed to be capitalized. By projecting all capital and operating costs with reasonable escalation factors, a life-cycle cost analysis was performed. Results of that analysis shown below indicate an estimate of required revenues to offset all costs. These projected costs are favorable when compared to alternative fossil fuel unit costs projected for the New England region. 

Some commentators have suggested that the gap between the demand and suppiy for oii wiii be fiiied by the discovery of new oii fieids or the development of new fueis (e,g, bio-fueis). However, such is the iikeiy deficit that It Is estimated that we would need to find new reserves of oil (or create alternative fuels) equivalent to five Saudi Arabias over the next 20 years. Simple economics tells us that the only way that the gap will actually be closed is by the price mechanism. In other words, the cost of oil will increase dramatically to reflect the shortfall in supply. 

Today, estimated costs for sustainable alternative fuels for aircraft range from 2-5 times the cost of conventional jet fuel ° and in some cases, even higher. However, these values are estimates, as the fuels are not commercially available. These... 

The use and effective costs of various energy alternatives are shown in Table 2. Use or internal costs include production, transportation, and distribution. Effective costs take into account the use costs estimated external costs, which include costs associated with damage to the environment caused by utili2ation of various fossil fuels and fuel utili2ation efficiencies, ie, the efficiency of converting fuels into mechanical, electrical, or thermal energy. The effective costs are expressed as /GJ of fossil fuel equivalent (15). The overall equation for the effective cost is... 

Another problem is cost-effectiveness, hydrogen must be able to compete with alternative strategies including more fuel- efficient internal combustion engine vehicles. The Shell studies estimate that the cost in the U.S. to supply 2% of cars with hydrogen by 2020 is about 20 billion. 

It has become clear that the achievement of ambient air quality standards will increase the cost of stationary combustion and industrial process operations. For example, the cumulative capital and operating expenditures for air pollution control on stationary sources to achieve these standards is estimated at 37.6 billion during this decade (J). This however, is only one of two basic concerns. The second diflBculty is the identification and development of sufficient low pollution fuel sources or alternative control technologies which can satisfy national energy de-... 

Because the determination of cetane number by engine testing requires special equipment, as well as being time-consuming and costly, alternative methods have been developed for calculating estimates of cetane number. The calculations are based on equations involving values of other known characteristics of the fuel. 

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