Dependence of Man on the Environment

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)

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

Mankind has relied on non-renewable resources for thousands of years, and only recently has it started to take its toll on the environment. Chemists have been experimenting with different types of fuels and adding to gasoline to make it more efficient. This is when ethanol made its debut into the fuel industry, as an additive to gasoline. Ethanol is put into gas as a combatant against water, which can find its way into fuel tanks of vehicles. It reduces the effect that this water has on the health of the vehicle, and as a result increases gas mileage, and also increases the amount of complete combustion. Ethanol consumption has severe drawbacks pertaining to its effect on the environment. Production of ethanol increases the formation of

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.

The featured film Fuel shows various points on fuel ruining the environment, from American children not being able to play in water to huge industries causing “cancer alley” such as the one on Louisiana. The Environmental Protection Agency has put a few standards into play to regulate health hazarda and complete destruction of the environment. Natural events that have been happening since the birth of Earth have created multiple types of ways humans have taken advantage to create fuel for the world. An interesting point brought up while watching this film was the fact that biofuels caught on as fast as it did to actually start to make a difference for the world. When word started to get out on how ecofriendly and cheap it really is,

People need energy, it’s a fact. We need it for our cars, for our televisions and for our iPods. We need it all the time, every day. The simple fact is though, we are running out. Carbon based fuels are being used at an alarming rate every day. And every day our demand increases as our society becomes more and more reliant on technology.

The need for energy is a dominant, driving the force of the world. Paralleling population growth, energy demand cannot be supported by fossil fuels, a limited resource with negative impacts on the environment. Currently, Global energy consumption is approximately 78% fossil fuels and 19% renewables. It is critical that the ratio continues to shift in favor of renewables. With the transition to using more renewable energy sources, it is imperative to fully understand each energy source and the impact it has on the world. Bagasse derived methanol is a potential sustainable fuel source that may largely shape the future. Despite its strengths and potential as a biofuel, bagasse derived methanol’s shortcomings should not be overlooked.

The United States should increase the amount of corn based ethanol used as fuel. The environment would be protected by the burning of corn based ethanol. Because burning ethanol requires greater complete combustion, the exhaust gases of ethanol are much cleaner than those of gasoline. The use of ethanol-blended fuel (primarily E85, 85% ethanol 15% gasoline ) has the ability to reduce the net emissions of greenhouse gases by 37.1%. E10 (90% gasoline 10% ethanol) reduces the greenhouse gas emission by 3.9%. The additives in gasoline such as tetraethyl lead, are dangerous when admitted into the air and if are spilled in the environment. If there were to be a fuel spill of corn based ethanol, the fuel would be more “easily biodegraded or diluted

Imagine a fuel that can reduce harmful emissions and boost domestic economy around the globe. A fuel that commit our working demand which must clean, sustainable and made from abundant resources. Methanol is that type of fuel, a globally accessible fuel that already widely used by many countries around the world and it’s making headline around the globe. Methanol is the simplest alcohol fuel and the source of energy for fuel cell. It’s also a basic chemical building block, used in the production of wide range of commodities which touch our daily lives from plastics, solvents to windshield washer fluid. Methanol is producing from wide range of raw materials including biomass, natural gas, coal and even pollution emitted from factories and power plants .Countries around the world already using innovative sources to produce methanol fuel like using the waste from paper production called black liquor to create diesel fuel replacement, byproducts of bio-diesel production are made into bio-methanol, Carbon cycle

Gas is an invaluable commodity in today’s society. It is used in everything from cars, to lawnmowers, to generators, to boats. Everyone uses it, but what exactly goes into it besides oil? One of the answers to this is ethanol. Ethanol has been going into gasoline since the 1920’s and was widely used during WWII (Gustafson, 2010). Ethanol gasoline became popular in the 1970’s due to the climbing prices of gasoline (Gustafson, 2010). The high price of gasoline was a result of oil shortages because of production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. (The Washington Times, 2006). The reason a rise in prices and a shortage of oil led to adding ethanol to gasoline was because ethanol was an easily and cheaply created (Gustafson,

The United States is the world’s largest producer of ethanol fuel, producing over 60% of the world’s ethanol in 2011, which correlates to the creation of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in 2005. The RFS originated with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and was expanded and extended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The RFS requires renewable fuel to be blended into transportation fuel more so every year until it is set to reach 36 billion gallons in 2022 (Renewable). The purpose of this has widely been seen as an effort to combat environmental damage such as climate change and oil spills in addition to being a political move to be independent in creating our means of energy production. Currently, ethanol is societally regarded as an environmentally friendly fuel, being that it is produced from plant material through a series of chemical reactions. One of the most controversial issues relating to ethanol is the "net energy" of ethanol production. In sum, more energy is used to grow and process raw material into ethanol than is can be released by the ethanol itself. The agricultural practices that are necessary to produce the biomaterials that are converted to ethanol include planting, fertilization, tilling, watering, and harvesting, while processing the biomaterials involve transportation, fermentation, and distillation (Energy). While these processes require more energy than is able to be harvested from the resulted ethanol, and thus ethanol fuel is

Ethanol made its debut in the early 1970s, and by the late 1980s, ethanol was beginning to be used for fueling cars (Fuel-testers, 2012). Now in the midst of the green movement of the 2000s, ethanol can be found in over 90 percent of gasoline at public gas stations (Fuel-testers, 2012). This technology is being pushed to new extremes as it strives toward its goal of replacing gasoline as our main fuel source. Ethanol promises us less gas emissions, less dependence on foreign oil, and prolonged use of a healthier environment.

Both forms of biomass energy uses recycled waste products, making it cost effective. Waste management by recycling to produce biomass for an alternative energy source is cost-effective because it does not require creating new material to produce energy, instead uses what is readily available. It is beneficial to resolve the issues because of deforestation now, rather than allowing the expenses to accumulate and in the future face the consequences due to unresolved past issues. It is an irresponsible act to leave unresolved issues behind for our future generations to face. The use of biomass material as an alternative source of energy carries long-term benefits; we will not only save our environment now and its natural resources, but we will also save money now and for the future than can be used to better protect and improve our planet’s environment and natural resources.

As the world delves deeper into the 21st century and as more and more countries develop into industrialized or post-industrialized nations, global society is dependent on reliable and steady sources of energy now more than ever. This reliance on energy will most certainly continue into the future as the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) has projected the world’s energy consumption to increase by 56% by the year 2040 (“EIA Projects World Energy Consumption”). Such a substantial surge in demand of energy in what is a relatively short period of time has disquieting implications. According to the British Petroleum Statistical Review, oil, natural gas, and coal consumption accounted for approximately 86% of the energy market in 2015 (“Statistical Review of World Energy”). With current oil prices being at record lows, a booming natural gas “renaissance” in the process of going on, and political pressures in the United States calling for an increase in “clean coal” output, nonrenewable fossil fuels may be the primary options for our society to fuel its future (Sontakke). However, these options come with adverse drawbacks such as dependency on dubious foreign petro-states and various forms of ecological degradation, which includes climate change. Due to these factors, as well as burgeoning cost-competitiveness, the renewable energy industry is poised to gain a sizable share of the energy market.

Throughout this article several statistics are given to show how energetically unfavorable the production of biofuels really is. Not only does the production of biofuels require huge amounts of resources like water, cropland, and chemical fertilizers, but in many cases it also consumes more net energy in fossil fuels than it produces in alternative energy resources. Some examples of biofuel production throughout the world include biomass resources, corn ethanol, grass and cellulosic ethanol, soybean biodiesel, and algae for oil production.