European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Designing new fuels and new cars to use them two thirds of the Oil used in the United states goes for transportation so efforts to reduce dependence on Oil imports must concentrate on alternatives to gasoline and vehicles Best equipped to run on them. Methanol and ethanol these alcohol fuels can be made from renewable resources like Wood. Research is lowering the Price of ethanol and methanol derived from natural Gas is already As cheap As gasoline. Electric Fly electric vehicles Are coming Back and could be important for Urban transportation by the end of the Century. General motors is to Start producing the first modern american made electric Van next month. Liquid Hyo Rocen Hydrogen is a clean but expensive Auto fuel. In an Elfort to bring Down the Cost researchers Are trying to harness photovoltaic cells to produce Hydrogen More economically. The i ii re time Lulu  a it it Lvi n adapted from scientific amen can the methanol engine High octane and Low heat toss allow for a smaller More efficient engine and other parts. An electric Van Chrysler is testing a Mim Van that represents the next stage of Advance in electrical vehicles. A Nickel Iron Battery lets vehicles travel 110 to 120 Miles Between overnight charges Ai speeds around 70 Miles an hour. Production could Start in 1993 or 1994 instrument Cluster do motor inaction jets Battery internal combustion engine source electric Power research Institute source Bow liquid Hydrogen an experimental Bow converts liquid Hydrogen into Gas. Mixed with air. It is injected into an Inteman combus Tion engine. A Hydrogen car is not expected to be practical until sometime in the next Century. Energy research alternatives to Oil move from lab to Road by William k. Stevens new York times in the last 10 years american scientists and engineers have taken Long strides toward the Day when alternative Energy sources can compete with Oil from the Middle East and some of the More promising alternatives Are on the verge of practicality. But a drastic Cut in funds for Energy research Over the past decade has slowed Progress in Many areas. And even if the research Effort is accelerated now experts say the Energy system that has grown up around Petroleum is so vast so pervasive and so entrenched that it will be years and in most cases decades before the alternatives replace Oil on a Large scale. It is Clear say the experts that the biggest and most important gains in the struggle to wean the United states from Petroleum Are to be made in transportation which accounts for nearly two thirds of All Oil consumed in the United states. If alternative fuels and technologies could somehow magically displace gasoline today they would eliminate most of the need for imported Oil at one stroke. Now stimulated in the last few years mostly by environmental concerns scientists and engineers have brought to the Brink of fruition or close to it a number of alternative ways to Power motor vehicles. Many of them Are based on resources that Are renewable rather than Cpl table and that Emit less pollution than gasoline. Scientists working with advanced enzymatic techniques Are steadily improving the process by which Wood is converted to ethanol a form of alcohol fuel. By making the process More efficient they have reduced the Cost of Wood derived ethanol to the equivalent of about $2.15 for a gallon of gasoline from $5 in 1980, and they expect to reduce it to about $1.15 by he end of this decade. American gasoline prices have been around that level in the last few years and Are now higher. The use of Wood and other vegetation opens up a potentially vast source of renewable raw materials or feedstock and researchers Are developing ways to produce the Wood More efficiently. Commercially produced methanol another form of alcohol fuel is already As cheap or cheaper than gasoline. Recent analyses by the environmental Protection Agency have found that it now costs 90 cents to $1.10 to buy methanol that will propel a car As far As a gallon of gasoline. And As part of an attempt to capitalize on this economic fact the Agency a emission control technology Laboratory in Ann Arbor mich., expects soon to begin testing the first prototype of an engine especially designed for methanol. American automobile manufacturers meanwhile have built engines designed especially for ethanol fuelled autos and installed them extensively in brazilian cars. Within the last five years Auto makers in the United states and abroad have also brought to technological maturity flexible fuel engines that Burn methanol ethanol and gasoline interchangeably or any mixture of the three. The blending makes it possible for the alcohol fuels to replace gasoline gradually with a minimum of disruption in the Supply system. As part of its stringent new policy against air pollution California is to serve As a pre production testing ground for the cars. By the end of the Century electric vehicles May also be making a Dent in Urban transportation. All three major american Auto companies have been working on new electric vans and cars. As part of a demonstration project general motors for example plans to begin production next month of the first 60 modern electric vehicles produced in the United states. The years and decades ahead Are Likely to see a vigorous competitive struggle among these fuels and technologies As Well As compressed natural Gas which is being sold experimentally As an Auto fuel in the United states. The potential of these alternatives As an antidote to dependence on imported Petroleum is Clear. Foreign Oil and Petroleum products contributed 15.3 quadrillion  or a quads Quot to the nation s Energy consumption last year the burning of gasoline measured last year at 13.74 quads can be said to have soaked up most of the imports the extent to which alternatives could displace Oil in Energy sectors besides transportation is less Clear. Quot in theory Quot alternatives based on renewable resources Quot could be directed to the replacement of Oil in All sectors Quot said Thomas d. Bath of the solar Energy research Institute a government supported National Laboratory in Golden Colo. But it would take More Money and time to direct alternative resources to specific Oil targets in Industry businesses and Homes than in transportation he said. The gains would probably be incremental and piecemeal a gradually replacing Oil heat in Homes with solar heat natural Gas or electricity for example or displacing some of the remaining Oil in the generation of electricity with renewable alternatives like solar enery or wind Power or with nuclear Power. But Oil now accounts for Only 5 percent of electricity generation leaving relatively less room for . Improvement in that sector. Some Oil moreover is used As feedstock in the production of Petro chemicals and Asphalt and is not Energy related. Although some of the alternatives not based on Fossil fuels May soon Challenge both the technology and the economics of Oil experts say none is Likely to supplant Oil in a widespread fashion for some time. Federal funds for research on Energy supplies declined to about $1.5 billion in 1990 from about $5 billion in 1980, in constant 1990 dollars according to a study by or. John p. Holdren professor of Energy and resources at the University of California at Berkeley. Quot we be allowed our programs for research and development on these new options to deteriorate drastically Quot he said. Quot we Are just not making the Progress that would have been possible if wed maintained those 1980  Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes Friday september 14,1990