The main ethanal fuel product available nowadays for you car is E85.  E85 is made from 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent alcohol. There are many cars that can run on E85 fuel and many of you drive these cars and probably don’t even know it. If your vehicle is labeled as a “Flex-Fuel” vehicle, then chances are you can run it on E85.

Running your car on E85 is good for the consumer because it costs less! With the recent volatility of the oil industry and prices rising and falling like waves on the ocean, E85 has remained consistently cheaper and simple to produce. In addition, (and I don’t care what you hear from critics) E85 will not effect your gas mileage in any way. You car doesn’t know what it’s burning! It only responds to the weight or your lead foot, and not to the ‘drank in the tank.’

Environmentally speaking, E85 is much cleaner burning compared to its petroleum counterpart and is made from a renewable resource! These are two good selling points in the eyes of environmental watch dogs.

Are you catching the balance here folks? You can actually do something good for the environment without sacrificing quality or paying more to do it! That’s balanced green living!

Brazil, which is by far the largest producer in the world, makes ethanol from sugar cane. Projects are now underway in California to convert some of the state’s agricultural waste, like rice straw that is now burned in fields, into ethanol. Ethanol as an alternative fuel has really come a long way over the years and has turned out to be an extremely viable product for both consumers and activists alike. This is why we consider it to be one of the most well-balanced green initiatives to date.

Corn ethanol as an alternative fuel is made today by converting the starch in corn to sugars and then into alcohol in a process of fermenting. A company in Canada, Iogen, has invented a process for converting agricultural waste such as corn stalks, husks, etc. (corn “stover”) and other cellulose rich plant waste like straw into ethanol by using enzymes.

Using ethanol as an alternative fuel is only a part of the alternative fuel trend. There are many other alternative fuels being developed in the “green” movement and we will talk about each of them and report on their viability as we see it. The reality is that ethanol provides the most promise to date in use as an alternative fuel.

E85 is the perfect green product in that it is cheaper, performs well and offers less impact on the environment, now that’s balanced green living!

The most publicized and well known alternative fuel is Ethanol. Ethanol is often called grain alcohol as it is made from corn or soybeans. Right now on the market is E85 which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Even though it still has petroleum-based gasoline in it, ethanol burns much cleaner than regular gas and saves on gas mileage for those who use it. Ethanol can also be made from organic materials including agricultural crops and waste, plant material left from logging, and trash; including paper!

Another type of alternative fuel is methanol, a relative of ethanol, as they are both alcohol based products. Methanol is sometimes called wood alcohol and can be made from various biomass resources like wood, as well as from coal. However, today nearly all methanol is made from natural gas, or methane, because it is cheaper.

Propane, or compressed natural gas has long been used to provide energy to homes, but it is rising in popularity as a type of alternative fuel for vehicles. Like oil, this common fuel comes from underground. However, natural gas, as the name implies, is a gas much like air, rather than a liquid like petroleum. It has been found to be one of the most environmentally friendly fuels, and its popularity is growing.

You can find another type of alternative fuel in the form of good old fashioned electricity. In fact, electric vehicles have been around for a long time, and they are coming back in popularity due to environmental concerns. Electric vehicles don’t burn gasoline in an engine. They use electricity stored in the car in batteries. Sometimes, 12 or 24 batteries, or more, are needed to power the car.

One of the most interesting and promising type of alternative transportation fuels is hydrogen. While mostly only experimental vehicles are operating on this fuel now, the potential for this unique energy source is excellent. Hydrogen is the lightest of all elements and is easy to produce which is why it is gaining much attention.

These are only a few types of alternative fuels and more are being developed all the time. With a growing concern over global warming, the use of alternative fuels will grow in popularity over time and you will likely begin to see many other types of alternative fuels make their appearance.

When it comes to balanced green living, seeking an alternative fuel is one of the best ways to appeal to the public and both sides of the environmental aisle. I am a big fan of alternative fuels, especially E85 ethanol because it is convenient, cheaper and readily available. It’s the perfect product for the regular folks out there who want to be green without stepping out of their normal comfort zone.