biofuel essay

1Evaluatewhetherthedevelopmentofprocessedbiofuelscanprovideaseriousalternativetotraditionalfossilfuels.Therecentdevelopmentofbiofuelsaroundtheworldcanbeattributedtoacombinationoffactors,inwhichtheenergycrisisplaysanimportantrole.Theoilpricerepresentthatenergycrisishasadeepimpactontheworld.Itisarguedthattheenergycrisisiscausedbythewasteofenergy.Accordingtothelawsofthermodynamics,energycannotbedestroyed.Whatpeopledoistotransformitfromonestatetoanother(Seitz:2008).However,sometimestheformislessefficientthatresultsinthewasteofenergy.Fossilfuelisatypicallessuseableform,whichstilltakealargeproportionofthemarket.Theneedthattobeindependentonfuelandthethreatfromglobalwarmingforcesgovernmentstolookforalternatives.Scientistsaretryinghardtofindnewsourcesofenergy,aimingtoincreasetheefficiencyofenergyandreducethepollutionbroughtbyfossilfuelontheenvironment.Biofuels,asacreationofadvancedtechnology,whichiscleaner,greenerandmoreefficientthanfossilfuel,hasbecomeoneofthemostpotentialkindsofenergy.Inordertoprovewhetherbiofuelscanbeaseriousalternativetotraditionfuels,thisessaywillgiveacloserlookatthreegenerationbiofuelsandevaluatetheirpotentialandlimitationfromtwocriteria:costandenvironment.Biofuelsisthenamegiventosolid,liquidorgaseousfuelsderivedfromrecentlydeadbiologicalmaterial.SinceitseemsthatbiofuelscanhelppeoplereducetherelianceonfossilfuelandtheemissionofCO2intotheatmosphere,governmentsofbothindustrializedcountriesanddevelopingcountriesareencouragingpeopletoincreasetheproductionanduseofbiofuels.Howeverthedramaticgrowingdemandofbiofuelshascausedvariousproblemsassociatedwiththeeconomy,environmentandsociety,whichshouldbetreatedseriously.InAugust2007,aglobalconferenceisholdbytheUnitedStatesDepartmentofAgriculture(USDA)attheUniversity2ofMinnesotaanddiscussedtheseissues(Ruth,2008).Accordingtothedifferentfeedstockandconversionaltechnology,biofuelscanbedividedintothreegenerations.Thefirstgeneration,asthefirstonesteppingontheworldstage,hasbeenusedmorewidelythanthelatergenerations.Seedsandgrainssuchaswheatareusedforthebasicfeedstockfortheproductionoffirstgenerationbiofuels.However,atthesametime,concernshavebeengrowingaboutitsimpactonfoodsecurityandagriculture.Mr.Ziegler(2007)warnedoftheconsequencesofusinglargeareasofarablefarmingforbiofuelsfeedstockproductioninsteadofusingforgettingfood.HeclaimedthatboththeUnitedStatesandBrazilhadputheavyinvestmentintotheproductionofbiofuelsthatusedfoodcrops.Theformeraimedtodosotoalleviateitsrelianceonimportedfuels,andthelatteristoreduceforeigndebt.Thereisarealdangerofturningovervastfarmlandstogrowcropsforbiofuels,becauseitwilldirectlyleadtofoodshortage.Theconsequenceisthatmorepeopleinlessdevelopcountriescannothaveenoughfood,whichisasignificantproblemforpoor.Manyoftheproblemsrelatedtofirstgenerationbiofuelscanbeaddressedbytheproductionofsecondgenerationbiofuels.Cellulosicbiomasscanreplacecropsandbecomethenewfeedstockofbiofuels.thishastwoattractiveadvantages.Firstly,thewastebiomasscancreatevalueforsocietywithoutadditionallandbeingrequired,whichreducesthepressureonagriculture.Secondly,cellulosicbiomassfromfast-growingenergycropssuchaswood,tallgrassed,forestrycropscansurviveinawildrangeofsoiltypes,eveninsomemarginallandwherewiththehelpofthesecropstopreventerosion.Competinglandusewilldisappearandthiswillallowmuchmoreusefulgrantstobegrownatthesametime(WorldwatchInstitute(CB),2007).Ontheotherhand,thefeedstockoffirstgenerationcanonlybeachievedintheyieldwithgoodsoilsandsufficientwatersupply.Itisobviouslythatscientistshave3madeprogressonthefeedstockofbiofuels,butfromanotherperspective,thesecondgenerationofbiofuelsalsohasitsowndisadvantages.Incomparisontofirst-generationbiomassfeedstock,cellulosicbiomassismoredifficulttobebrokendownanditisnotyetclearwhetherconversionaltechnologywillbeprofitablewidely.Thefeedstockofthirdgenerationbiofuelsisalgaeanditsproductionislowcostandhighyield.Researchshowsthatalgaecanproduce30timesmoreenergyperacrethancanbeproducedfromconventionalfeedstockrequiringland(EvianaHartman(2008-01-06)).Whileitisarguedthatthethirdgenerationbiofuelsisthemostpromisingones,however,excessiveexpansionoffarmingalgaeisathreattotheeco-systeminthesea.Tosomeextent,bothfromtheperspectiveoftheeconomyandtheenvironment,thesecondandthirdgenerationbiofuelsaremoreviableoptions,sogovernmentarealreadyinvestinginplanningsomeprogramsandresearch.Nevertheless,problemsraisedconversiontechnologyshouldbetakenintoconsideration.Actually,becausemostmethodsofproducingsecondandthirdgenerationfuelsarestillunavailable,countriesthatusebiofuelsaregenerallyrelyingonfirst-generationbiofuels.Feedstockcosttakeupthemajorityofbiofuels'price.Inaddition,growingorimportingaretheonlywaytogetfeedstock,sotherewillbecostsinproducingandtransportationthataccountfortherest,whichmayresultinahigherpriceofbiofuelsthanthatoffossilfuel.Ethanol,asthemostpopularbiofuels,isacaseinpoint.Itisassumedthatjustwhenthepriceofcrudeoilexceedtocertainextent,thepriceofethanolwillbecompetitive.Inordertohelpbiofuelstoplayaroleinthemarket,governmentcarriesoutsomein