The irony of this is that petroleum products are the alternative fuels. Before petroleum fuels were common most road-going vehicles ran on either ethanol alcohol, vegetable oil (the original compression engine invented by Rudolf Diesel) or were electric. And a good many were external-combustion powered: Steam. Believe it or not, in the early 1900's electric cars outsold ICE (internal combustion engine) cars significantly.

And now here were are today, trying to figure out how to do something that was simple over a hundred years ago!

There's a lot of information out there about various engine fuels, and most of the true answers are in history. The unfortunate truth for us, and a convenient one for those profiting in the petroleum industry, is rampant ignorance on the part of the average citizen and an all-to-willing desire to believe without reservation anything spat at them from television.

As for predictions? We're a fickle species when it comes to that which sustains us, so when there's profit and greed involved all bets are off.