Alternative Fuels, anyone?

With the price of fuel consistently rising, more and more people are looking for ways to either cut fuel consumption or go for alternative fuels.

To cut fuel consumption, we would have to stop using our vehicles or at least minimize using them which for some of us is not really acceptable. Carpooling is also one option in cutting fuel consumption but how many of us have colleagues that live in the same place as us? Another way of cutting fuel consumption is to live close to where we work so that instead of driving to work, we'll just walk. However, this would only work if we're renting because it's not easy to just sell our house and find a new one close to our workplace. And what if we find a new job in a different location? There's also the option of changing your gas or diesel powered vehicle to a hybrid one but we all know that hybrid vehicles are expensive and I don't know if they are already available here in the Philippines (probably not).

So, finding alternative fuels that are cheaper is probably the most sensible way to combat the rising fuel prices. But what are the available alternative fuels in the Philippines?
One available option is to convert our vehicles to run on LPG since it is cheaper than gasoline or diesel and according to reports is environmentally friendly. The conversion cost is around P70,000 for gas-powered vehicles. I'm not sure if diesel-powered vehicles can be converted. One UK site says it can but that it is more costly. Of course, there are pros and cons in using LPG. But from what I've been reading, there are more advantages than disadvantages. Developed countries like the UK, US and Japan are adapting LPG-powered vehicles. I remember when I was in Japan in 2000, the cabs there were already running on LPG. Anyway, one major concern here in the Philippines about using LPG is the supposedly adverse effect on health. If that is untrue, then converting to LPG is a good option (after shelling out the P70,000 conversion cost and giving up your trunk space).

But if you don't have P70,000 or do not want to have an LPG tank in your vehicle or is convinced that installing LPG in your vehicle will have a bad effect on your health, the option is to use ethanol-blended gasoline on your vehicle. Currently, some oil companies already offer what they call E10 gasolines (90% gas & 10% bioethanol). They are normally P2/liter cheaper than the regular gasolines. According to reports, there should be no need for any conversion and should have no difference from regular gasolines in terms of vehicle performance and is also good for the environment. But I've heard different opinions about E10. Some say that it's only for newer vehicles and some say that as long as a vehicle has an EFI engine then it's safe to use E10. I personally am not sure what to believe but I found an AU site that can help determine which vehicles can use E10. I think this is the easiest option for most car owners since there's no tweaking needed and can be done at once. Unfortunately, this is not for all and gas stations offering E10 are not widely available yet. Most importantly, the P2/liter price difference may not be enough as compared to the huge difference one can save when using LPG or other cheaper alternative fuels.

And then there's taking Bioethanol to the next level. It's the same fuel used in E10 but instead of only 10% bioethanol & 90% gas, this time it's 85% bioethanol & 15% gas.They call it E85. Saw this in the news today. This is already available in Manila. However, there's a device that needs to be put in the engine first before E85 can be used by a vehicle as a fuel. And the device costs around P25,000. It's relatively cheaper than converting to an LPG and the fuel price is almost the same. You don't have to sacrifice trunk space and it's also environmentally friendly.

At the end of the day, it's up to us to decide which of the options available will work for us. As for me, I think I'm leaning more into the E85 for now.