Biofuel. A bad idea?

Question

Considering that most of the world is either limited in it's access to food or starving, wouldn't electric cars be a better idea when trying to solve the problem of fuel consumption? And if you supply the electricity by hydro power, wind power, etc, then it's all for the better right?

Answer 1

Your idea is excellent! But the real hurdle is the bureaucracy and the politicians. I've already developed cheap biodiesel in India but they are not willing to help. Eventually, they block all the excellent ideas to replace them with their own stupid ones. Second hurdle will be the initial capital cost. Preferably, Bill Gates should pay more attention to this than AIDS as such ideas would lead to the betterment of the millions.

Answer 2

I know huh.  don't you just love what a genius our government is.  they use a type of fuel that can be better used to feed people and keep food prices stable rather than dramatically increase car fuel efficiency which we would much better alleviate our high gas prices and wouldnt cause any food crisis in the first place! yup u gotta love our gas prices now and also the billions that corn industry is making from this bs.

Answer 3

Hello, Wing,

You have your thinking cap on.  You are partly right about bio-fuels.  If you take the land out of food production to grow bio-fuel, you are not solving one problem but creating another.   It does help farmers to have more markets to sell to.  I have another idea.

Global warming is a fact!!!  Weather it is our car engines, sun spots, or to many cuss words that caused it is hard to say, but the earth is becoming warmer.  The desserts are growing too.  Why not find a plant that grows in dessert climates where most food plants do not grow.  Something with lots of oil in it that can be rendered down into fuel.  

I know of just such a plant.  It is already the number one cash crop in the state of California in number of dollars worth of product produced.  It grows in "poor", sandy soil and needs a hot climate to grow properly.  In the past it has been used as paper, rope, and medicine, and was grown as a war material during the American Revolution by George Washington on his plantation.   It is, of course, hemp.  The same plant that is used as marijuana.  It is the oils and resins that makes someone high when they smoke it, so why couldn't  it run an engine.           Just a thought.

Answer 4

Biofuels are just part of the solution and a step in the direction of energy independence.  Although biofuels are contributing to the increases in food costs, here are many other factors as well, not the least of which is the huge increase in petroleum and increasing demand. I think it is pretty clear that biofuels will be in the energy mix for some time to come now that the infrastructure is being built to process the raw materials, and as technology advances more energy will be derived from existing resources and other renewable resources that don't put as much stress on the food supply will come on line.

Wind energy is developing rapidly here in my area with several large projects currently underway and despite the fact that wind energy has it's problems it is a very viable source of clean power.  I also think that solar will figure into the mix more as well, but I do not know very much about the current state of that technology, I just recently got involved in the production of wind energy and am still learning about that.

Although some people seem to object to American agriculture benefitting from biofuels and wind energy production, I personally would rather see the money go to my friends and neighbors down the road and contribute to economic growth here in this country than going to build ski hills in Middle Eastern deserts and buy gold-plated Rolls Royces for royalty there.

Answer 5

Personally, I would agree that hydro and wind are good solutions to our problems, but some might disagree.  Salmon runs are deteriorated by hydro power and birds of prey have been known to get caught up in wind turbines.  Also, people seem to have problems with the unsightliness of wind turbines (I don't know why, I think they look pretty cool.)  The true rub is that it is improbable that we could power the world without coal-fire or nuclear plants.  Wave action might be the wave of the future, but who knows?

As for biofuels, I recently read that every 1.4 gallons of biodiesel has 1 gallon of petroleum-derived diesel embodied into it.  In other words, it takes one gallon of diesel to produce 1.4 gallons of biodiesel.  Also, my understanding is that very few biodiesel manufacturers are actually using recycled veggie oil for their product, and opting for virgin canola.

Answer 6

As always, it depends on how you do it. Cellulostic ethanol digestion is still being explored, and once it's unlocked, will provide all the fuel we need using scraps normally unusable. So it won't cut into anyone's food chain. btw, that food chain lie is getting old. There's plenty of farmland, just ask ANY farmer. They're still being paid NOT to grow stuff.

Answer 7

In theory you are exactly right unfortunately I do not think the technology is there to supply the entire country just yet. The ability to store the wind and solar power in batteries just isn’t up to snuff yet. But in time I believe that you are right, those clean energy and will work great I just think there needs to be some advances in the technology before it becomes mainstream. As for biofuels I think they are an important part in becoming energy independent. Biofuels can be made from algae and it can be grown on land that is unsuitable for agriculture so food sources are no affected. When you can get over 10,000 gallons of oil for biofuels from one acre of algae I think that it should be utilized for fuel and as a country we would be stupid not to. When you can make fuels that can be used in our cars and can run with little to no modifications and will be much less pollutant than current fuels, it would be dumb not to. I think that biofuels have their place and should be utilized and in time they will help make this country energy independent

Answer 8

those ideas are sad at best, i dont have a wind farm out back.  if you want to plug in your car go nuclear and have fun paying your electric bill

Answer 9

absolutley.  we have all of the materials to do this, and to start producing many of these fantastic ideas that people are coming up with.   but, people need to take the initiative and do it before it is too late.

but yes, absolutly, electric car planted powered by a renewable resource is an excellent idea