California Laws Have Very High Support For Advanced Biofuel Development

Not only does this kill the American Agriculture, but this also starves people. I’m sure everyone of you know the struggle people go through and the struggle of finding food. Instead of land being used for crops to grow food for these people, it is being used to produce ethanol. I believe we should use this cropland for crops because it can help starving and hungry people to be able to receive food so they can have enough to eat.

There are a couple factors that cause the “sky-high” gas prices in California, but a main contributor is an anti-carbon regulation.

Switching from the expensive oil to alternative fuels has moved from a dream to reality. Today, there are dozens of alternatives to oil that are currently available us to be used. One alternative to oil that is being used more today is ethanol. Derived from plant materials, ethanol can be a cheaper, cleaner alternative to the gasoline that our vehicles run off. When going to gas pumps, one will notice that much of the gasoline is up to 10 percent of ethanol. According to our text, most ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn, yet ethanol can be made from any biomes-- including garbage. (Turk & Bensel, 2011)

"Emission Standards: USA: California Diesel Risk Reduction Program." DieselNet: Diesel Emissions Online. Web. 07 Jan. 2012. <http://www.dieselnet.com/standards/us/ca_diesel.php>.

In the New York Times article, “As Ethanol Booms, Critics warn of Environmental Effect”, Erica Gies writes about the many misconceptions of how ethanol is impacting everyday lives. She narrates the drawbacks of producing ethanol and how it was suppose to reduce emissions, but this is questionable due to the lengthy process and number of refineries and resources needed. Then she goes into further details about the local effects in our nation’s increased food prices, water pollution and consumption. By writing this article in the New York Times Gies’s primary audience will be those subscribed to New York Times, or follow this newspaper regularly. The secondary audience will be anyone caught in conversation by someone who has read the article and that maybe directly or indirectly related to ethanol issues.

California is the third largest in fuel consumption on earth, behind the U.S. and all of China, and with this demand needing to be met and a diminishing supply of fossil fuels, comes the rise of a new revolution, natural gas. With the start of the industrial revolution came the beginning of the use of fossil fuels. Thus, making the United States overly dependent on a limited resource that was also harming our environment. Over the past few decade, nations around the world have realized that the finite amount of fossil fuels is coming to an end, and our need for alternative fuel and energy sources is growing. We have experimented with different types of resources, one of them being natural gas. Natural gas has been a

California since the gold rush has been known as the “Golden State” where it’s flooded with multicultural richness from the beaches to the mountains. California today is the most densely populated state with 38.8 million residents and is still rising, however, not only is the population ever increasing so are gas prices. Allysia Finley an editorial writer from The Wall Street Journal states, “The national average is $2.76 a gallon, while the Golden State drivers pay $3.88. Eco-virtue is expensive” (Finley 1). Gas prices in California has left an effect of overpriced due to many contributing factors: regulation over the environment, overconsumption, and how rational people think at the margin.

As we know, California is fighting to have an emission standard implemented on the state

The Californian Air Resource Board (CARB) was enacted by the Californian legislation in 2002 to achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of GHG’s from California’s motorcycle. CARB has proposed new near-term standards to be phased in from 2009 through 2012, and mid-term standards to be phased in from 2013 through 2016. The GHG emission standards will be incorporated directly into the current low emission vehicle (LEV) programs, along with other light-and medium-duty automotive emission standards. The LEV program applies to passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles weighing 8,500 to 10,000 pounds, and it establishes exhaust emission standards. Accordingly, there would be a GHG emission fleet-average requirement

California has been at the forefront of addressing environmental concerns, by balancing environmental protection with economic growth, property rights, public health, and energy production. This is done mainly through laws and regulation passed at all governmental levels and influenced by many stakeholders with different agendas. California has been the most active state in addressing climate change. The state has enacted mandatory carbon reductions, and required emissions standards for automobiles.

In 1994, the state produced more than 458 million tons of CO2 equivalents.” (Wilkinson and Rounds, 1998, 35) Emissions are expected to increase in California, as well as other states. By 2010, it was predicted by the California Energy Commission to increase 15 percent. According to the document about 85 percent would be from fossil fuels. In 2012 according to California’s Environmental protection agency air resources board “Total California greenhouse gas emissions were 459 million metric tons (or tonnes) of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e). This represents a 1.7 percent increase in total GHG emissions from 2011 and the first emissions increase since 2007.” (California Air Resources Board, 2014, i) The percentage of greenhouse emissions has increased tremendously since

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.

Ethanol fuel has many positive features as an alternative to the use of liquid fuel. First, ethanol is renewable. A relatively safe fuel would show very few engine changes. Second, its energy density is much higher than with some of the other alternative fuels, such as methanol, which means there would be less volume required to go the same distance. With the third benefit of ethanol, it would be able to improve much of the agricultural economies by providing farmers with stable market crops, such as maize and sugar beets, and with

This essay will first discuss the advantages of using corn ethanol as the main source of fuel in the future, such as the renewable features of corn itself, and the benefits of using corn ethanol as an additive of gasoline instead of using gasoline alone. However, everything has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the second part of the essay will discuss some of the weaknesses in applying the fuel into practical usage. For example, corn ethanol currently encounters technical limitations serving itself as a standalone fuel, meaning that corn ethanol can only function by combining itself with a certain amount of gasoline, while gasoline is a kind of fossil fuel. Lastly, this essay will conduct a comparison with other renewable resources in the world, including solar power, other biofuels, and hydrogen fuel.

What environmental benefits do we receive form an influx in ethanol as an alternative fuel? First let’s look