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Benefits and detriments of biofuels
Essay on biofuels
Benefits and detriments of biofuels
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Biofuels have the possibility to produce energy while decreasing overall CO2 emissions. In this paper, I will examine the basics of biofuels, their potential benefits, their history and recent developments, and the scientific, and ethical considerations that arise when talking about their use.
Biofuels are “any type of liquid or gaseous fuel that can be produced from biomass substrates and that can be used as a (partial) substitute for fossil fuels” (Giampietro, Ulgiati, & Pimentel, 1997). Examples include ethanol, methanol, and biodiesel (Giampietro, 1997). There are many methods to extract biofuels from biomass. Ethanol is extracted from the yeast- or bacteria- fermentation of sugar crops (Giampietro et al.E, 1997). Methanol is extracted from the gasification of wood (Giampietro, 1997). Biodiesel is made by extracting oil from oil crops, i.e. soybean, sunflowers (Giampietro et al., 1997). There are two types of biofuels, primary and secondary. Primary biofuels are those used in their unmodified form, i.e. fuelwood, chips and pellets (Nigam & Singh, 2011). Secondary biofuels are processed biomass (modified primary fuels) like ethanol and charcoal. These can be used in cars and industrial environments (Nigam & Singh, 2011).
The U.S. government is active in the push for increased biofuel production. The U.S. government has before, and continues to subsidise ethanol in an attempt to increase its adoption. The Energy Policy Act of 1978 set a subsidy of 10.6 cents per liter of fuel blended with ethanol (Tyner, 2008). The federal subsidy today is 13.5 cents per liter (Tyner, 2008). However, this does not include state, and other subsidies, which bump the total subsidy to between 27.8 and 36.5 cents per liter of ethanol, or 37.6 and ...
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...e to fire and decomposition, reversing the carbon sequestering that naturally takes place (Searchinger et al., 2008). Also, if biofuels are adopted, crop prices would rise, increasing the incentive for farmers to repurpose more land (Searchinger et al., 2008). A vicious cycle. To create greenhouse benefits, the carbon uptake credit must exceed the carbon storage/sequestration given up by changing land uses (Searchinger et al., 2008). If you do the calculations, adoption of corn-based ethanol would be a net negative for greenhouse emission benefits for a while. Greenhouse emissions from the use of corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and overall increases greenhouse emissions for 167 years, when at that point the carbon will have been offset and equalized by the reduction of emissions from the use of biofuels (Searchinger et al., 2008).
In conclusion, Corn Ethanol Biofuel has many negative and positive effects. It has a negative effect because it releases greenhouse gases but positive effects as well because it is inexpensive to produce and use, and is a renewable source. The future of corn ethanol is uncertain: “Corn-based ethanol will most likely not be the staple fuel source in the future, as it is only a short term solution and poses problems in the long run. Ethanol contains 33% less energy than gasoline, and corrodes engines that it is used in. Average production and final sales are 62 cents/gal higher than conventional gasoline. Even though political support is waning, Congress will most likely not abandon corn ethanol.” ("Future of Corn Ethanol.) I think corn ethanol
With the fuel crisis that is happening in the world today it is now more important than ever to begin the look towards alternative fuel sources. One smart step for the US would be to wean the country slowly off of the gasoline fix and to look into alternative fuels to replace the “never coming back” fossil fuels. It turns out that Ethanol as a hybrid fuel proves to be a notable candidate for this gasoline intervention, per say. Now the United States is currently looking to subsidize fossil fuel alternatives. However, before considering ethanol production as a governmental subsidy, using large amounts of hard earned tax payer money, there has to be many alternative factors that come into play such as making sure the pros out weight the cons as far as environmental benefits and performance output and not to mention looking at the entire matter from an economic or investment perspective. First we need to consider what the ethanol we are talking about actually is and how can we obtain it.
In the United States we have been looking into alternative energies to reduce our dependence on oil and help reduce our carbon footprint. One method the EPA has come out in support of is ethanol production. Ethanol is considered a green fuel because it recycles the burned carbon each time new crops are grown. In theory ethanol is a good stepping stone between using gasoline and zero emission power sources. However biofuels are still young technology that has many problems before it can be useful. The EPA is in full support of biofuels and has mandated that by 2020, 36 billion gallons of biofuels are to be produced in America. Currently almost all of America biofuels comes in the form of corn based ethanol which is extremely inefficient and can cause sustainability problems. Due to this reason only 15 billion gallons of the mandated biofuels can be form corn based ethanol. The rest of the biofuel must come from non-corn based alternatives such as cellulosic ethanol which the EPA projects to create all most all of the 21 billion remaining gallons of ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol uses the cellulose that is in all plants matter to create ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is far more efficient than corn ethanol because you can use the whole plant and it sets no limitation on what type of plant matter can be used. Even though the EPA projects that these number will be achievable, due to current setbacks and efficiencies cellulosic ethanol will not be able to meet this output within the time constraints and a goal of 2034 years would be more realistic in the long run.
Ethanol production was developed in hopes of severing our ties with fossil fuels in favor of alternative energy, such as biofuels. Although, VOCs emissions are released during production of ethanol in a factory, the quality of air is greatly improved when burning ethanol versus fossil fuels. Burning ethanol instead of fossil fuels reduces the amount of cancer-causing greenhouse gases that go into the atmosphere. Ethanol production ranks at the bottom of industrial water usage, but is still not out of the woods with the abundance of water usage needed in corn feedstock and ethanol manufacturing and processing facilities. Many acres of land are needed to grow corn crops, however, many corn farmers are successful in growing more corn on less acreage.
Tyner, Wallace. “The U.S. Ethanol and Biofuels Boom: Its Origins, Current Status, and Future Prospects.” BioScience. August 2008. Vol 58 (7):646
Introduction:The idea of biofuels is a old concept, reaching as far as the ending of the 19th century. Solid in its idea but flawed in its presentation. Biofuels are a alternative energy to fossil fuels that are made from natural methods such as plants and crops and are key in solving the apparent flaws of fossil fuels. While fossil fuels have been in use for over a century, Biofuels have now risen to the popularity and been exposed to the press. At one point of time biofuel were being considered by some of the most brilliant minds ever in human history such as Henry Ford and Rudolph Diesel who believed that biofuels had the potential to be the new evolution s on only to reappear a century later. Now the world faces the struggles of global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels slowly dimming by day. Throughout the last century biofuels have proven to have a place in our society as a new alternative fuel source. Specializing in Being Natural and healthier than fossil fuels, biofuels have had a rough beginning against its competitor due to key situations such as pricing, Side effects, to fuel power. However the idea was passed on a to the later generations, and continued to pasand prolong usage. However through the last decade they have been highly advertised by politicians and Government officials claiming it to be the future of a powerful working society, and to help in making a new energy free world. Through belief Some even claiming that “By 2050, a new generation of sustainable biofuels could provide over a quarter of the world’s total transport fuel, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency” (last name). With such improvement biofuels should be the obvious answer to providing a better future to th...
Secondly, the use of biofuels is not a cost effective option as they are more expensive than fossil fuels. According to the County Commissions of the US Department of Agriculture and North Dakota State University, there are around seven biodiesel producers in the US. Biodiesel is the mix of biofuel and diesel in 20:80 ratio, which means that the cost of biodiesel will be around 20$ more ...
Biodiesel is considered an environmentally friendly alternative because it reduces the amount many toxic substances. Plants such as soybeans require carbon dioxide from the air to produce their stems, roots and leaves. During biodiesel production from soybean oil, carbon dioxide is produced and released in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is considered a green house gas (GHG). However, this cycle of GHG emission does not neccersarily contribute to the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This is because the next soybean crop will reuse the carbon dioxide emitted for its growth. Another important environmental benefit is that biodiesel reduces particulate matter (PM), hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. These benefits occur because biodiesel contains 11% oxygen by weight. Oxygen allows the fuel to burn better, resulting in fewer emissions from unburned fuel. And lastly, biodiesel fuels do not contain any sulfur and does not have an unpleasant smell when it is emitted from vehicles.
The problem today is the gas companies make too much on their products. Shell's profits jumped enormously in only three months. The Company announced an 80% jump in earnings for the last three months, to $3.25 billion (Shell Posts Record Profits). Ethanol would allow these profits to go straight to
...g/what-is-biodiesel/biodiesel-basics) .This source is definitely a viable option for America, the implementations might start out a little costly. Companies and industries that use fossil fuels need to start going in the direction of renewable resources to sustain their businesses. By implementing a government incentive to these companies, perhaps it will make the process smoother.
In 2013, the use of GMOs had helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equal to removing 12.4 million cars from the road for a year. How this works is that GMO crops have, as mentioned before, a higher yield and are less likely to require herbicides or pesticides through the growing season. Non-GMO varieties require more applications of herbicide and pesticide, which translates into more fuel for the use of machines, higher use of said machines, and more time. GMO crops mean you need less land for the same amount of food, which means that machines will need to do less, thus using less fossil
Energy, especially from fossil fuels, is a key ingredient for all sectors of a modern economy and plays a fundamental role in improving the quality of life in less developed economies. In 2007, India is ranked fifth in the world in terms of energy demand; accounting for 3.6% of total energy consumed, and is expected to grow at 4.8% in the future. India imports 70% of the oil it uses, and the country has been hit hard by the increasing price of oil, uncertainty and environmental hazards that are concerned with the consumption of fossil fuels. In such context, bio energy constitutes a suitable alternative source of energy for India, as large amounts of raw material are available to be harnessed.
Some of the ways we try to combat Climate Change differes from region to region and culure to culture. One of the remedies that seems to be adapting all around the world is the use of biofuels instead of using fossil fuels. People believe that instead of digging up and using oil and petroleum, our best solution to combat greenhouse gases emitted by fossil fuels is to plant soybeans, sugar cane, palm oil and use that as a replacement. More cars are flex fuled, and use ethenol mixed with petroleum to lessen the use of oil since oil prices are only going to increase with the decreasing amount that is
Fossil fuels are an important part of life. When you turn on the lights, watch TV, or take a shower, the electricity that you are using is being generated by fossil fuels. The three types of fossil fuels are coal, crude oil, and natural gas. They all take millions of years to form, so they are considered to be “non-renewable”- eventually, the fossil fuels will all be used up. One dangerous biological effect of using fossil fuels is ocean acidification. Extracting and transporting fossil fuels can also be very dangerous. Environmentally damaging accidents such as groundwater contamination, land subsidence, and oil spills occur frequently. Global warming is another possible environmental effect. Fossil fuels have a crucial role in modern society, but since they are non-renewable and dangerous, we should reduce our dependence on them and explore alternative energy sources. Wind energy, hydroelectricity, and solar energy are some examples of renewable fuel sources. There are also many things that people can do everyday to save energy (and, in turn, conserve fossil fuels).
The concept of this essay is to stress that biofuels are a viable and sustainable energy source than fossil fuels, showing its advantages but not ignoring its disadvantages which also enlightens us about the cleaner and renewable natural resources. Biofuels is an alternative source of energy which can end the global dependence on fossil fuels.