Getting Oriented: The Move to Alternative Fuels

Transcription

1 Getting Oriented: The Move to Alternative Fuels Grades 9-12 This lesson helps find out what your students know about our ever-changing transportation system and the move to alternative fuels through discussion activities. Discussions include asking students to think about family holidays and the travel requirements of such events, how and why we use gasoline, and how transportation might look in the future. You may wish to contact a "Clean Cities" representative for a presentation. To find the nearest Clean Cities representative, see the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Coalitions information online. Objectives: Become oriented to the major issues involved with transportation (specifically the shift to alternative fuels) and to working in teams Become aware of the various approaches to the problem of transportation-related air pollution TEKS: English, Language Arts, and Reading 13, 13E Science Environmental Systems: 8B Geology, Meteorology, and Oceanography: 9B-C Social Studies 22A-C, 23A-B Agricultural Science and Technology Education 6A, 6C, 7 Time: 20 minutes Materials: Project notebooks or folders for organizing handouts and other information students obtain throughout the course of this unit Gasoline-Powered Engines: Time for a Change The Transportation Challenge In Your Community, How Important Is It? Teacher Preparation: Background Reading for the Teacher Gasoline-Powered Engines: Time for a Change In most areas of the United States we depend on gasoline-powered, privately owned automobiles to get us where we want to go. Private cars have been part of the American lifestyle since they became affordable for the American family in the 1920s and replaced hay-powered horses as a way to move around. With the growing number of vehicles and the increasing number of miles we drive, the horseless carriage has created a wealth of problems that weren't imagined when cars first became an essential part of American life. 1

2 Population is increasing annually at home and abroad. Energy requirements are increasing even faster as standards of living rise throughout the world. Although the United States owns only 2 to 3 percent of the world's proven oil resources, it consumes 25 percent of the world's annual oil production. The global demand for oil has risen and created international tensions and even war between oil-exporting and oil-importing countries. Excessive amounts of carbon dioxide, produced when gasoline burns, are building up in the atmosphere and contributing to global warming and climate change. Rates of lung problems among young children and the elderly have risen, with fingers pointing to the emissions from automobile tailpipes. Despite the improvements in automotive technology that have made individual cars more efficient and less polluting, some problems continue to grow as more people drive more miles each year. A Major Challenge for the Country There is no single solution to the challenge facing us. The various approaches generally fall into one or more of these three major categories: Improving fuel efficiency and emissions controls This approach includes designing more fuel-efficient and less polluting gasolinepowered vehicles, choosing to buy and use smaller and/or more fuel-efficient cars, and making good use of efficient technologies by keeping cars well maintained and driving them conscientiously. Reducing the number of cars or miles driven This approach includes reducing the number of miles driven per person by using alternative forms of transportation (mass transit, bicycling, walking), carpooling, combining multiple errands into single trips, and telecommuting. Using alternative fuels This approach includes developing and using alternative-fueled vehicles (AFVs). While meeting this challenge will require a combination of the three approaches, this unit focuses on the third the adoption of alternative fuels and issues related to it. Research and development of new fuels, power systems, and vehicles are very costly. Making informed decisions about the positive and negative impacts of alternative fuels is important if we are to avoid environmental, health, security, economic, and infrastructure problems that may arise with an alternative fuel. In fact, the change to alternatives has been under way for many years. It now involves automotive engineers, automobile manufacturers, fuel companies, environmental policy makers, mechanics, city planners, and people in many other professions and roles. These groups have taken the following steps: Driven by the desire to make our sources of energy more secure, the federal government has encouraged fuel industries to develop domestic sources of power that is, power that comes from fuel obtained within our national borders. With the goal of improving air quality in urban areas, the federal government has worked with industry and local governments to develop and field-test buses, cars, trucks, and other vehicles that use various types of alternative fuels. By 2000, over 80 cities had joined the federally sponsored Clean Cities program, which aims to clear the air by working with local businesses and governments to expand use of AFVs and supporting refueling infrastructure. Car manufacturers have developed a variety of prototype cars and begun to market and field-test a few models in certain regions of the country where air pollution is worst and/or where alternative fuels are already available. 2

3 AFVs have been road-tested, and comparisons have been made between them. They include combustion engines powered by natural gas, propane, biofuels, methanol, and ethanol; electric motors powered by a variety of batteries and fuel cells; and hybrids that rely on both. Key Pieces of Legislation Two pieces of legislation are currently moving the United States toward alternative fuels: the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT). The Clean Air Act is primarily focused on cleaning the air and promotes any power source for which a vehicle is certified to meet federal clean fuel vehicle emissions standards. The Energy Policy Act has a slightly different focus; it promotes the use of fuels that are substantially not petroleum that would yield substantial energy-security and environmental benefits. The fuels promoted by each act are listed below. CLEAN FUELS AND ALTERNATIVE FUELS Promoted by Federal Legislation CAAA Clean Fuels EPACT Alternative Fuels Methanol (M85) Ethanol (E85) Other alcohols or alcohol blends Other alcohols separately, or in mixtures containing 85% or more alcohol with gasoline (but no less than 70%, as determined necessary by rulemaking) Natural gas Liquefied petroleum gas (propane) Electricity Hydrogen Clean diesel Coal-derived liquid fuels Reformulated gasoline Biofuels (fuels derived from biological materials) and "neat" (100%) biodiesel 3

4 ACTIVITY 3 CLASS DISCUSSION Preparing Students to Meet the Transportation Challenge Directions: 1. Distribute the student handout The Transportation Challenge, which describes the six-week project ahead. Explain to students that for the next six weeks they will work in teams to investigate alternative fuels in depth and become the class experts on at least one of them. The students will analyze the impact of widely adopting an alternative fuel in three major areas: Its long-term availability and the ease of distribution Its impact on emissions, human health, and the environment Its ease of operation, maintenance, and refueling While researching each of these three areas, the class as a whole will also analyze the needs of its own community and the current transportation system's impact on it. As the class experts, fuel teams present their findings to their classmates. The evaluation of the fuels can be done by the other students in one of two ways: Individual students are assigned a stakeholder or interest group to represent. They listen to the presentations and compare and evaluate the fuels from that perspective. Evaluation panels of students are formed and assigned a stakeholder or interest group to represent. (We suggest that each evaluation panel consist of experts on several different fuels.) As a panel, students listen to the presentations and compare and evaluate the fuels from that perspective. The class will then decide which fuel or fuels should be adopted in their community and develop a final presentation to make to community representatives about their fuel choices. 2. Explain that their decision might be based on how well an AFV performs on the road, how far one can drive between fueling, or how well the car starts in cold weather. Encourage the class to also consider broader and longer-term goals for the country, such as reducing environmental pollution, improving public health, slowing down global warming, and becoming more self-sufficient. Whatever fuel the students choose, it should be appropriate for their own community. A fuel that's most appropriate in clearing the air in southern California (where people commute long distances and smog has been a problem for 50 years) may differ from the fuel that is most readily available in the agricultural areas of the Great Plains. Those fuels may differ again from what is cleanest and most convenient for East Coast inner-city residents who use cars for a few short trips during the week. As the students make their decisions, remind them of these questions: What are the most important transportation issues our community is facing? Which fuels best resolve those issues? 3. If you have already made arrangements for a public presentation, discuss with students what form their presentation may take and who will be in their audience. If not, discuss with students the possibilities for public presentations: where and when they might take place, who the audience would be, and what form the presentations would take. Presentations may take one or more forms: a poster or series of posters, a video, a PowerPoint presentation, a web site posting, or a public forum using transparencies. 4

5 Possible venues include the school or public library, other public buildings, or a community happening such as an Earth Day event. Throughout the activity, teams will have at least three opportunities to give mini-presentations to their classmates, which should help them prepare for the community presentation. Resources: Gasoline-Powered Engines: Time for a Change The Transportation Challenge In Your Community, How Important Is It? Web Sites U.S. Department of Energy, Clean Cities Coalitions Source: "Cars of Tomorrow," Chapter 1, page 8, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. 5