Demand for Alternative Fuels
In the year 2000, there were about eight million vehicles around the world that ran on alternative fuels, indicating an increasing popularity of alternative fuels. There is growing social interest, and a perceived economic and political need for the development of alternative fuel sources. This is due to general environmental, economic, and geopolitical concerns of sustainability.
The major environmental concern, according to an IPCC report, is that "Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations" [1]. Since burning fossil fuels are known to increase greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, they are a likely contributor to global warming.
Another concern is the peak oil theory, which predicts a rising cost of oil derived fuels caused by severe shortages of oil during an era of growing energy consumption. According to the 'peak oil' theory, the demand for oil will exceed supply and this gap will continue to grow, which could cause a growing energy crisis starting between 2010 and 2020. Lastly, the majority of the known petroleum reserves are located in the middle east. There is general concern that worldwide fuel shortages could intensify the unrest that exists in the region, leading to further conflict and war.
The production of alternative fuels can have widespread effects. For example, the production of corn-based ethanol has created an increased demand for the feed stock, causing rising prices in almost everything made from corn.However, in a competitive free market, an increased supply of ethanol reduces the demand for conventional fuels, and thus lowers fuel prices. The ethanol industry enables agricultural surpluses to be used to mitigate fuel shortages.

Vocabulary
Vehicle: veículo
Grow: cresça
Source: fonte
Environmental: ambiental
Concern: interesse
Since: desde
Burn: queimadura
Increase: aumento
Greenhouse: estufa
Likely: provável
Warming: aquecimento
Peak: auge
Exceed: superar
Supply: fornecimento
Gap: espaço vazio
Majority: maioria
Unrest: agitação
Further: promover
Widespread: comum
Feed: alimento
Stock: estoque
Lower: abaixa
Enable: autoriza
Mitigate: aliviar


Questões:

1) Em quem ano indicou uma popularidade crescente de combustíveis alternativos?
2) Qual é o principal interesse, de acordo com o IPCC?
3) O que poderia causar uma crise de energia?
4) Onde fica a maioria das reservas de petróleo?
5) O que reduz uma demanda e abaixa o preço dos combustíveis convencionais?

Componentes do Grupo
Bruna nº 11
Carolina nº 20
Debora nº 25
Jéssica nº 34
Renata nº 43