An Investigation into the Sustainability of Advanced Materials and Systems as Energy Sources in Commuter Transportation

Modern society depends on cheap and plentiful sources of energy. For most of the 20th century, fossil fuel in the form of coal, natural gas, and petroleum have been this energy source. The majority of petroleum in the U.S. goes in to fueling the light duty transportation fleet. However, we know that coal, natural gas, and crude oil have an expiration date, and we have recently learned that their use has caused and is still causing severe damage to the earth’s atmosphere. With these reasons in mind, new sources of inexpensive and abundant energy must be found, which are renewable and environmentally sound. Alternative such as hydrogen fuel and battery technology may play a key role in this search for new energy sources. This paper gives a sustainability overview of the major alternatives to petroleum for fueling the light duty transportation sector.