Cultivating Renewable Alternatives to Oil Chapter 4

Opening “ The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust—almost any thing…” Henry Ford Bio-fuels come from renewable feed stocks such as sugar cane or soybeans. Global production of ethanol has doubled since 2000 and bio diesel has expanded three-fold. Brazil has started the trend of bio-fuel production with their ethanol being created with sugarcane. This accounts for over 40% of Brazil’s non-diesel motor fuel.

From the Still to the Bio-refinery Brazil’s government in 1975 launched a program to start the construction of distilleries to ferment sugar into ethanol. Brazil now offers flexible fuel options: from pure ethanol fuel to mix blends of ethanol and gas. Because of this, they have saved over $50 billion dollars in imported oil costs. Bio-diesel is another major fuel used which is created from vegetable oils with a mixture of alcohol. Europe produces 95% of the worlds bio-diesel created from rapeseed and sunflower seeds.

From the Still… Continued Advocates say that bio-diesels are environmentally healthy, is non toxic and is biodegradable. The Chinese government has followed that of Brazil and has started to use ethanol-gasoline fuels and production. Fuel created by all the corn produced in the U.S only meets 15% of light vehicle needs. A solution to this problem is to converting cellulosic materials such as plant stalks and leaves from harvest and use enzymes to break down the fiver into sugars for ethanol.

Environmental Risks and Opportunities The combustion of bio fuels results in far lower emissions of several pollutants including carbon monoxide, hydro carbons, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. The advantage of using bio fuels is that it helps reduce the threat of climate change and carbon emissions. However corn derived ethanol may emit just as much carbon as fossil fuels if it is grown with nitrogen fertilizers from natural gas. If renewable energy is not used to produce fertilizers and propel tractors, studies show that there is a significant energy gain and less emission of greenhouse gasses.

Fueling Development Bio fuels give potential to boost rural economies around the world. Bio fuel companies tend to buy their corn or other products within a 100 mile radius of the production site. This helps local farmers because the prices for the corn are raised, giving back more money. Bio fuels provide low cost fuel for lighting, cooking, and other necessities. Most bio fuel production sites are locally owned, compared to fossil fuels. If one site of bio fuel were to experience drought, they could still purchase the fuel from a different location. Not the same for fossil fuels.

The Future of Bio Fuels Bio diesel fuel production outlooks have predicted a 25 to 50 percent raise, which means that bio fuels will replace said percent of petroleum fuels. If bio fuel is produced wrong, this could deplete soils, cause air and water pollution and destroy habitats. Bio fuels have an advantage over petrol fuels - local production sites. Petrol fuels are in many places unstable or hostile locations which makes for a rise in the purchase of the fuel.