The most commonly used method for nuclear energy today is fission, other methods like fussion, and radioactive decay also exisit today. All current methods involve heating a working fluid such as water, which is then converted into mechanical work for the purpose of generating propulsion. Today more then 15% of the worlds electricity comes from nuclear power.

The navy has build over 150 nuclear-powered vessel in recent years and a few radioistope rockets have been produced as well.

The economics behind nuclear power is some what tricky subject and controversial. Since mutli-billion dollar investments ride on the choice of an energy source, which power source is most cost effective depends on the assumptions used in a particular study.

In 2001 the Economist stated that “Nuclear power, once claimed to be too cheap to meter, is now too costly to matter” cheap to run, but very expensive to build. Since inflation and other methods of fuel are slow developing and costly the operating expenses of nuclear energy are also expected to increase several digits as well.

The most significant use for nuclear energy is for the generation of electrical power and to power some ships and submarines. The nuclear energy these ships require are made from heat and steam from the nuclear reaction power stream.

There are other less used uses for nuclear reactors and their technology but none that deal with power, or energy so we won’t be covering them.

Methanol at room temperture is a polar liquid that is used as an antifreeze, solvent, an alternative fuel to gasoline for cars, and is also used in the transesterification reaction for biodiesel.

Methanol is produced naturally by the metabolism of many bacteria. AS a result there is always a small fraction of methanol vapor in the atmosphere. Methanol burns in the air forming carbon dioxide and water. When methanol burns the flame is colorless, as you can iamgine this provides further saftey hazards when around open methanol flames.

The distribution of biodiesel is rapidly spreading along with its use. Fueling stations are making the B20 to B100 mixes readily available to consumers mostly across Europe, but growing rapidly in the USA and Canada as well. Surprisingly biodiesel is generally more costly to purchase, but you should save money in other area’s such as MPG and maintenance.

Global biodiesel production is reaching close to 4 million tons. 85% of that is coming from the European Union however, meaning it still needs to be imported to the US for use.

In the United States the average price for B2 or B5 biodiesel is about 12 cents lower then normal diesel costs. B20 runs about the same cost of normal diesel fuel, and B99/B100 generally costs more then petrodiesel except where local governments are providing subsidy.

Blends of biodiesel and conventional hydrocarbon based diesel oil are products most commonly distributed for use in diesel fuel vehicles and farm equipment. Must of the world uses a system known as the b factor to state the amount of biodiesel in any fuel mix. Fuel containing 20% biodiesel is labled B20, and of course pure biodiesel is B100. It is very common to see B99 since 1% petrodiesel is sufficiently toxic to retard mold.

Any blend such as B20 or under can be used in unmodified diesel engines. Though the maintenance schedule for your diesel engine may change. B100 fuel (which contains 100% biodiesel) will most likely require you to modify your diesel engine some to avoid maintenance problems and other issues.

The origin of biodiesel goes back way longer then what most people assume. While the technology is probably close to over 70 years old now, its just recently this technology has became more main stream as increasing fuel costs are hurting all markets.

The hydrocarbons extracted from the oil shale kerogens is not real efficient for fuel use. Leaving many scientists to believe this non-conventional oil won’t be replacing any other fuels any time soon.

You can find oil shale all around the world, and the United States has a few major deposits. Global deposits of oil shale, are esitmated at around 2.8 trillion to 3.3 trillion barrels of recoverable oil.

Though the engery cost to produce this fuel, to the energy gained ratio is low, it can be used as an alternative to normal fuel we use today for many smaller countries to break away from foriegn oil dependicies.

Oil shale has a large negative impact on the environment and water quality, and China, Brazil and some other countries are large producers of oil shale at this time.

Some non-conventional oil production types includes: heavy oil, oil shale, biofuels, thermal depolymerization of organic matter, tar sands, and conversion of coal or natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons.

Some of the oils, will more then likely replace petro motor fuel one day as petro fuel becomes depleted and more costly to produce. The reason we do not currently replace petro fuel is because of the energy required to extract these non-conventional oils is greater then the energy we are able to produce from them.

We are currently working on methods that will increase the output of energy from these non-conventional oil methods that will increase their effieciency and increase thier value