Biofuels : Are They The Future?

Anything containing oil has been an increasing problem to the environment and to people. The toxicants that the oil produce harms people with their health. In the film Fuel, the director Josh Tickell talks about how crops can produce fuel, which produces cleaner air and is safer for the public. There are also other ways that Biofuel could be produced, such as adding human waste onto algae. The way that society utilizes oil is hurting the world, which in fact is affecting the human population and environment, but people only realize it until it is too late. With biofuel people would not be in danger and it could be produced without struggling to find oil.

Bio diesel is good for the economy because it is a fuel which can be created from locally available resources such as vegetable oils, coffee grounds, and animal fats. Biodiesel production and use

However, despite its many advantages biomass still has many disadvantages. Firstly it is not as efficient as fossil fuels, for example the ethanol produced for cars via biomass is not even close to the efficiency of petrol and does damage to engines over time. It also has the potential to harm the environment through increase of methane gases which are produced as a bi-product if animal and human waste is used. Biomass also requires a large distance away from residential areas in order to burn it and a large amount of fuel in comparison to other energy sources which can have dramatic effects if large portions of forests are cut down to provide lumber.1

That fuel source is called corn-ethanol, and a majority of people can see the main ingredient, which is, corn in America 's farm fields. Corn is grown annually and it does not take millions of years to reproduce. Oil is a fuel source that takes millions of years to reproduce. A biofuel is the process of taking any once living plant and abstracting the plant 's energy to make a fuel. People in America are supporting Biofuels, including corn-ethanol because it does not require oil. It also reduces green house gasses, which makes it better for the environment (Cassman 59). The common view of ethanol is that it is just a research project to make the environmentalists happy but that is not true. It has the potential to keep America 's economy rolling, supply a fuel source, and still feed livestock with its byproducts. The key to success as a country is to use what we already have an abundance of in this country. The evidence is all there for this argument many Americans just need to become educated about this topic. The main

Initial research has shown that biodiesel, liter for liter, generates about 90 percent of the heat of traditional fossil fuels, and the resulting air emissions are significantly lower in sulphur, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons. Burning these fuels also does not contribute to global warming. Fossil fuels increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere because the carbon they release upon combustion has been locked away for millennia. The carbon released by the combustion of biodiesel first had to be removed from the atmosphere by the plant that produced the oils it was derived from. Thus, no net gain occurs when said carbon is released. Biodiesel is also safer for people and the environment since it is non-toxic and biodegradable. Oil spills will no longer be multi-million dollar environmental catastrophes.

Biofuels are biologically derived fuels obtained in a renewable way from organic waste. These organic remains usually come from sugar, wheat, corn or oilseeds. They all reduce the total volume of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere as they absorb it as they grow and emit virtually the same amount as conventional fuels when they burn, resulting in a closed cycle process. Biofuels are often mixed with other fuels in small proportions, 5 or 10%, providing a useful but limited reduction of greenhouse gases. In Europe and the United States, legislation has been in place requiring suppliers to mix biofuels to certain levels. This legislation has been copied by many other countries that believe that these fuels will help to improve the planet through the reduction of gases that produce the so-called 'Greenhouse Effect '.

To solve the rigorous threat to earth from global warming, bio-fuels serve as the most feasible source of energy all over the world. The environmental and economical performance of bio-fuel as compared to fossil fuel was analyzed by full Life Cycle Analyses (LCA) in Spain. The Spanish government CIEMAT, carried out two LCA’s so as to compare ethanol-ethanol mixtures with gasoline, and biodiesel-biodiesel mixtures with fuel oil according to ISO 14040-43 standards, these standards evaluate energy and mass balance for two or more objects. It was concluded that carbon dioxide emission during utilization of bio-fuel are lower than fossil fuel and bio-fuel requires less primary energy to be processed than fossil fuels. Bob Dinneen, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association submitted the letter to the editor of The Gazette in which he marked that “On an environmental level, conventional ethanol is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 34% compared to petroleum, including hypothetical land use change emissions” (qtd. in renewable fuel association). As the raw material for

For over forty years now, scientists and researchers have been tirelessly searching for an alternative to fossil fuels. Biofuels have become an interesting contender in the search for the replacement of the non-renewable energy source. Biofuels have been used throughout history for over thousands of years. There is a large debate over biofuels and its true impact on the environment. Those involved in the discussion debating whether biofuels have any real overwhelming benefits compared to fossil fuels could argue for its usage. According to recent research performed by the University of Michigan, biofuels may not be the best alternative for fossil fuels. Regardless of its impact on the environment, biofuels are becoming more popular particularly when the price of oil rises.

Biobutanol is a more feasible alternative to gasoline. It is a more viable motor fuel substitute to gasoline, as biomass – from which biobutanol is derived from – is readily available for production and more importantly is a renewable resource. Gasoline is a crude oil product derived from petroleum, which is finite and unsustainable as a motor fuel, because it is increasingly being used up faster than it is being produced. It is expected that with continued research, biobutanol could eventually surpass gasoline as the primary motor fuel. Evidence proves that biobutanol is more acceptable environmentally than gasoline and conveniently, biomass is readily available for the steady production of biobutanol. Biobutanol is more advantageous

In the United States biofuel production has grown a lot over the last two decades. In 1995 production was at 500,000 gallons, by 2005 it was 75 million gallons, and by 2006 it was at 224 million gallons [Biofuels ‘13]. The main plant used in the United States biofuel production was the soybean [Biofuels ‘13]. Currently 4 percent of the world’s demand for primary energy comes from biofuels. The more popular and more well-known hydropower only provides 2 percent of the world’s primary energy demand [Maugeri ‘10]. Most modern cars can use up to a 10 percent biofuel mix in their engines without any modifications, though some cars called flex-fuel can use 100 percent biofuel or gasoline [Maugeri ‘10]. One big advantage to using biofuel is that it produces a higher octane rating than gasoline which helps improve engine performance [Maugeri ‘10]. Biofuels currently cost a little more to make compared to gasoline at about a ten to eight ratio respectively [Sanders ‘10]. Hopefully with more farms producing the components for making biofuels hydroponically it can help drive the price down to where it can be competitive with gasoline and one day completely replace it.

When researching the effects of biodiesel versus vegetable oil on a vehicle the results were interesting. Due to the increasing gas prices and the Obama Administration to wean the U.S. off of the addiction of oil, people are starting to switch to alternative fuel. ("Diesel vs. Biodiesel vs. Vegetable Oil | Homegrown Fuels - Consumer Reports." Diesel vs. Biodiesel vs. Vegetable Oil | Homegrown Fuels - Consumer Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.) this would include farm crop and renewable organic material. they are also in use with biodiesel and Vegetable oils. Developed from vegetable or animal fats, biodiesel is functionally identical to petroleum diesel. Adherents claim it pollutes much less than regular diesel. A relative of biodiesel is plain, edible cooking oil. Because it's not financially practical to fuel a car with cooking oil from grocery store shelves— a

Biofuels is a nickname to renewable fuels from biological source that can replace fuels that come from fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel. Unlike fossil fuels, biofuels can be easily produced from raw agricultural materials. These facts ensure that the reservoir of fuel will never

In the world of global warming, all kinds of pollution and fuel shortages going on, renewable and clean/ green energy is increasingly the ideal solution of energy related problems we have to solve one way or another. Biofuel is one of the mainstream and highly supported solutions nowadays, an idea to make renewable fuel by living organisms such as fiber, corn, vegetable oil or sugar cane. Unlike nonrenewable fossil fuels over extracted by people causing various environmental problems like generating a considerable amount greenhouse gas, current technology already lets renewable fuel like biofuels to shrink a certain amount of greenhouse gas production, making it a more ‘clean’ source of energy.

Unlike gasoline or diesel, biofuels release little pollution. It can also be used to produce electricity by heating water using biofuels and using the steam produced to rotate a turbine. Another method is to allow the biofuel to decay and produce methane. Methane is commonly used as fuel for car, heating, cooking, and producing electricity.

This essay focuses on two renewable energy resources. First of all, biofuel is now accepted as alternative energy in worldwide. The figures continue upward trend in the biofuel production. ‘An annual growth rate of 6.8% from 2006 to 2030 is expected for total biofuels consumption in the transport sector’ (International Energy Agency: 2008 cited in Zhou, et al., 2009:S11). Significant leaders of the biofuel market are Brazil, the United States and the European Union. The results of research indicated that 92% of the world’s ethanol is produced by Brazil and US together, while 90% of the world’s biodiesel manufactured by the EU. In addition, several developing countries in Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines have an enormous potential for biofuel production. Now these countries are