As gasoline prices and global warming concerns continue to climb, this is giving an incentive for nations to look for sustainable fuel sources that will curb the world’s dependence on oil and will help decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Everyday oil is dwindling and gasoline prices increase making the search for sustainable and cheap fuel a smart investment. According to Tony Lima, a Professor of Economics at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB), says, “As oil’s price increases it gives greater incentives to find and use substitutes. Therefore a higher price for oil makes investment in alternative fuel industries more attractive.”
The main fuel sources that many are researching are biofuels. According to the Birmingham Post, “biofuels are plant-based fuels, either ethanol made from sugar or grains, which can be added to gasoline and biodiesel, derived from oilseeds or palm oil and added to diesel.”
The Independent in London says “that today’s biofuels are mainly alcohols or other hydrocarbons distilled from the residues of specially-grown crops such as sugar beets.”
According to The Independent, the major advantage to Biofuel is they are carbon-neutral and “when biofuels are burned they are only releasing the CO2 which was absorbed from the atmosphere by the crops used to produce them as they grew.”
Many countries other than the U.S. are looking into new resources, “Brazil has long been a biofuel powerhouse, using its vast sugar industry to make ethanol. Some industry experts say it could become a ‘Saudi Arabia’ of biofuel,” said the Birmingham Post.
Using corn to make ethanol has become an attractive investment for the U.S., which is the world’s largest energy consumer, and Europe it putting its efforts into biodiesel, according to the Birmingham Post.
According to The Independent, “the U.S. has recently woken up to their attractions and is surging ahead with production’ by 2010 its output will rival Brazil’s.”
Biofuels have been painted as the answer to the world’s energy problem, but there are many that don’t believe biofuels to be the fix-it answer. According to Chemical Week, “the major concern is that the amount of land clearing necessary to support a global market for biofuels dramatically increases greenhouse gas emissions.”
When asked about the effects of ethanol production to the agricultural industry in the U.S., Professor Lima said, “Nothing very good can come, mainly because a really foolish U.S. law requires that all ethanol used as fuel in the U.S. must be made from corn. There are also tariffs on imported ethanol.”
One of the goals of converting from gasoline dependence to biofuel sustainability is to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. According to Chemical Week, “Many previous studies have found that replacing gasoline with ethanol made from corn modestly reduces greenhouse gases, while, cellulose-based ethanol substantially reduces greenhouse gases.”
At this point in time there are many nations searching for cheap renewable fuel that will bring the world away for our dependence on oil.
When asked is there a fuel that is economically better than oil, Professor Lima said, “not today, but at $100.00 a barrel, there may be some that are close, probably biodiesel (filtered used cooking oil) is closest.”
By Stacey
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I believe cellulosic ethanol to be the best source of this biofuel.
Cellulosic ethanol has many advantages over grain or corn-based ethanols. The raw material used for cellulosic ethanol is very abundant. Often green waste is used. This can be obtained from industries such as the timber/lumber industry.
Cellulosic ethanol is also less energy intensive to produce. Often the amount of energy and resources required to support crops, such as corn and sugar cane, overshadow the energy obtained from this type of biofuel.
As is the case with many global issues, one "solution" most often gives way to a "new problem", and therein lies the vicious cycle. The article appropriately highlights the ongoing debate over whether BioFuels are the correct answer to fossil fuels, the point being that more research and study is needed.
One of those recent studies was conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and focused on the role that gender plays in production of biofuels. Not surprisingly, there are far-reaching consequences to converting agricultural lands that were once used for food crops into land used for "energy" crops.
The effect, according to the study, is that "The potential depletion or degradation of natural resources associated with large-scale plantations for biofuel production may place an additional burden on rural farmers’ work and health, in particular on female farmers. If biofuel production competes, either directly or indirectly, for water and firewood supplies, it could make such resources less readily available for household use. This would force women, who are traditionally responsible, in most developing countries, for collecting water and firewood, to travel longer distances thus reducing the time available to earn income from other sources."
It might just be a question of the "lesser of two evils", but at the same time, there has to be a creative solution to the global warming problem that does not create new problems or exacerbate existing ones, particularly those related to global poverty.
The irony of this is that the U.S. and other industrialized nations progressed economically due, in part, to the successful exploitation of many of the world's natural resources, many of which originate in developing countries. Now, the U.S. is trying to stem the tide of environmental degradation that it so actively contributed to and yet again, at the expense of the developing world.
I'm not suggesting that the U.S. should stop current efforts to fight global warming by any means. In fact, it is our responsibility to do so. But we need to be mindful of the approaches we are taking and always remember that every action has a consequence. The key, of course, is balance and how to get as close to a win-win situation as possible.
You write very well.
Post a Comment