Biofuels Essay

Thirdly, the cost of biofuel is high because its production and infrastructural cost is humongous. To create biofuel, large tracts of land need to be cleared for setting up the plant. This is not feasible because of global economic meltdown whose one major disadvantage is the rising food prices. If the land that could be better used for producing the much needed food crops, there is no need to use the same land for generating biofuels (FAO 07). Furthermore, the cost of establishing and running a biofuel plant runs into billions. Where would the money come from? Of course, the people have to pay for them, doubly, first for purchasing biofuel and secondly in the form of taxes. Ironically, the common man cannot afford such expenses given the current economic situation, which if not controlled will create more problems in the future like unemployment, an issue more important than debating biofuels and diesel fuels (Stern 07).

Over the next forty years, global population is expected to reach nine billion people. This increase in population, combined with expected economic growth, will cause an increase in food demanded and inevitably drain the resources we use for food production. So far, agriculture has been able to respond positively to the rising demand for crop and livestock products. However, farmers are already faced with many new challenges associated with feeding an expanding global population. Farmers must now meet strict new emissions requirements and produce more food on fewer acres while minimizing their environmental footprint. The demand for food is expected to grow substantially in the next couple decades. Some of the factors affecting an increase in food demands are population growth, rising incomes of individuals, food supply factors, and biofuels.

A major source of controversy when it comes to biodiesel and other biofuels such as ethanol is what ingredient are used to make the fuel. When oils from crops are used, a number of problems can arise. For instance, biodiesel and other biofuels are often touted as environmentally friendly since they are typically made from plants, which suck the global warming gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow. However, the land may be damaged in order to grow these crops as demand for biofuels grow for example, in Indonesia, biodiesel may be causing deforestation, as native forests are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The chemicals from agricultural fertilizers and pesticides may also upset ecosystems.

As the revenue of developing countries goes up, the more meat and dairy they will eat. Therefore, the more crops needed to feed livestock. This also cuts down of the crops that can go towards food for the people. Since the demand for corn increases exponentially because of the demand for food and ethanol, the price of corn rises accordingly. Not only does the price of corn rise, but also anything that involves corn will rise. Anything from snacks, cereals, and even meat will experience a increase in cost just because the input costs of corn. In addition, ethanol contains less energy than oil, so this hurts the gas mileage of vehicles causing costumers to have to fill up their vehicles more

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 '.

Fossil fuel plays leading role in upsetting environmental, economical and climate protection. Our earth is at catastrophic risk by the exploitation of fossil fuels. Therefore, pressure is on to find viable alternatives for energy to bring a stable, safe and clean revolution. In that case, bio-fuels make an attractive alternative for energy than fossil fuels. Various provocative questions need discussion that what are the attractive differences between both the fuels? Why fossil fuel dependence is to be actually minimized? What is the scope of bio-fuel for a safer world? How will bio-fuel benefit economically? Above all, It will be conferred that why bio-fuels are better than fossil fuels.

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.

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.

Well we all know that the energy system is very unstable because the total energy available on the earth is limited, and man has exploited all the conventional technologies to fulfill his needs. By the use of these conventional technologies, the world also has a disability, with problems such as global warming. Consumption of energy by man increased gradually as his wants also increase. The conventional energy resources mainly include fossil fuels, but research shows that this fuel source will be depleted completely in approximately 20-25 years. This could cause major setbacks around the world. As a result, we need an alternative source of fuel that could keep the world running on its wheel. One possibility is ethanol. Chemically extract

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.

Many including Rothkopf, Grunwalf, and Ruiz-Marrero claim that biofuel is not the solution but rather will become a problem. They claim that if biofuel was produced in large quantity then agriculture would convert from food to fuel. According to the World Bank, over seventy five percent of the rises in food prices is directly caused by biofuel. Indonesia is the leading producer of palm oil, a major biofuel. In order to increase productivity, the people destroyed thousands of trees to plant palm tree. The destruction led to an increase in carbon production. Indonesia moved from the 21st most carbon producer to the third. Another major producer of biofuel is Brazil. If Brazilian farmers were to deforest the Amazon rainforest, it could cause a fifty percent increase in global warming. Through the world, deforestation accounts for over twenty percent of carbon emission. A gallon of biofuel requires the same amount of grain as a person would eat in a year. The switch from food to fuel would cause a worldwide food shortage and an increase in world hunger.

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

Food is the foundation of human live and people cannot survive without it. Food security is a vital issue facing the governments around the world. However, food shortage is becoming increasingly severe in this day and age. There are several reasons which led to the universal food shortage and they are interconnected to each other. Increasing world population, extreme weather and the wide spread use of biofuels are the main causes of worldwide shortage of food. These factors lead to food price rises rapidly.

For the past three decades Oil dominates the agenda of political discussion. With scares over price volatility, sizes of reserves, international imports and least of which are the environmental impacts due to carbon dioxide and other emissions. Various speculations and educated guesses place our total depletion of crude oil within the next 50 years and there is a general consensus between environmentalists that we steer toward a hydrogen transportation system given the projected work and nonexistent carbon dioxide emissions (Environmental Technologies class lecture, Santa Clara University). However many barriers stand in the way of attaining such a goal, most of which pertaining

Consequently, another new challenge which the airline industry is currently undergoing is the ability to find a greener solution to fuel so that aviation is not purely dependent on fossil fuels. Some sources of literature have alleged biofuels to not be the answer to cleaner fuels as although the direct emissions from airplanes powered by a biofuel mix may be reduced, the indirect emissions through producing biofuels are significant. Biofuels create a lot of pressures on carbon sinks through the way they are cropped causing strains on the land and rainforests (Bringezu et al, 2009), which adds to the greenhouse effect, furthermore increasing climate change. Due to the size of land required of biofuel production, it can also threaten biodiversity of flora and fauna and