Do u think that supstituting the fuel with Biofuel(from corn) is more expensive & a stupid idea?

Question

* More expensive!

* Will consume more farm land & water.

* will compete with other vegetations needed for people's life.

* The bread (essential material) price will shoot up.

WHY NOT CONCENTRATE ON THE FREE AVAILABLE SOURCES LIKE SUN,WIND, WAVES & WATER FLOW.

Answer 1

Its not a stupid idea at all. I own a 2.2 Renault Laguna diesel and started to run that on cooking oil a few years ago. Firstly i bought new oil which saved me about 50% on deisel but then i started to take used chip oil from my local chippy for free. I filtered it and added a little white spirit to mask the smell of chips a bit ( doesnt really work much ) then put it in my tank. I have driven from Staffordshire to Lyon in France on one tank and it didnt cost me a penny and i didnt pollute the enviroment. Everyones a winner ( apart from Gordon Brown )

Answer 2

How do you use the energy from sun wind waves and water flow to power a car? And I mean right now not off in the future when we have a usuable electric cars. afaik ethanol made from sugar cane is the standard fuel in places like brazil. i could be done cheaper if taxes were lowered.

Answer 3

If such fuel saves our plant who cares, however! this fuel costs 48p per litre and the government haven't had the chance to add its wealth tax, eventually it'll cost dearer than petrol.

Answer 4

The carbon in biofuel (ethanol) is derived from the breakdown of sugar. The calorific value of ethanol is only 66% that of petrol on a weight basis, but the burning of ethanol produces almost as much carbon dioxide as petrol (plus water). Thus per unit of energy, ethanol will produce more carbon dioxide than petrol.

Answer 5

But will have less air pollutants than burning petroleum in cars. At what expense do you put on having clean air? (And possibly helping to slow down global warming?)

Answer 6

our government pays the farmers not to grow crops.

this would at least give them something to grow.

i don't think it would be expensive to buy the fuel,

just in sort demand.

i think it would make more sense for cab drivers, Lorrie drivers, bus drivers,and emergency services to use it.

their would only be enough for them to go around, any way.

if your worried about the space it would use up, you could grow it at sub levels.

Hydroponics.

Or like a sky scrapper.

there would be no point in using corn it doesn't have enough properties.

you want to use sunflower or rape seed oil.

Answer 7

"Food for Fuel" is a moral dilemma, big time.

It is a bad idea. We need food.

The second biofuel generation where straw, waste, manure are utilised is going to work better, but it does take time.

Hydro storage technology is best for cars. The others are quite cumbersome.

In all these technologies we have to consider the "energy neutrality" which incorporates the energy and resources spent on creating it. A windmill for the roof costing £200 is likely to take 15 years to pay back. Because the impact it made being produceed compared to what it generates.

Answer 8

I think its not a good idea in this sense. Corn is by far not the most efficient crop. Generally I think it could be a good idea, but soy or rapeseed seem to be much more efficient alternatives.

I think:

*Reliance on foreign oil reduced

*some benefit to the environment

The argument be briana is not really valid in the sense that you take CO2 out of the atmosphere to make ethanol. So even though it is less energy per unit carbon release when you factor in what i just said it cancels this out and you actually net remove CO2 from the atmosphere, assuming you are not too inefficient with tractors and processing.

Answer 9

Sure solar, wind and waves are great but they will not help your car unless it is full electric.

As for using corn you are right, that is just plain silly.  Not enough farmland to feed all our cars if they move to pure ethanol.

The other person mentioned cassava on marginal land and I think that is a decent alternative.

However, I personally think wood wastes are a better alternative.  There are vast stores of woody material that can be tapped for energy to power cars (by woodgas) or diesel vehicles (by cracking it through flash pyrolysis).  Just have to make sure you replant and manage what you use in the forest and reforestation becomes profitable.

But biodiesel and ethanol from food crops only has one good purpose.....to educate people that they don't have to rely on gasoline / fossil fuels.  Once people understand there is an alternative and they are willing to accept it then we can look into the best way to do it.

Answer 10

Hydrogen and electricity are better solutions though biofuel could be used along with these.

Answer 11

You are right to consider the options but you really need to do the maths. (something most politiancs and many others fail to do). It is all about economics. There is plenty of arible land and semi arible land around for food production, its just a matter of using it well and distribution.

As to corn as the best biofuel crom, well guess that depends on where you are.

How you intend to sail your car to the supermarket would be interseting. As would taking your solar vehicle to the movies at night.

Bio fuel is actually a lasy persons solar powered fuel. Sunlight provides the energy and the plants do all the work.

Using ethanol as fuel has some impportant advantages both short and long term.

1 it is directly compatible with fuel distribution systems in place now and with vehicles in use now. (so it can be used immediately with minimal capital cost to the user) The cost of production is only marginally grewater than fuel form fossil sources.

2 the fermentation process to make it has almost pure CO2 as a by product, making it very easy to trap and dispose of. As this is CO2  that was in the atmosphere, this process actually has the potential to remove CO2 from the atmosphere not just to not add new lots. This is a BIG bonus.

There are many plants that can be used to produce ethanol and other bio fuels, where I live the Chinese are setting up some very large casava plantations to produce fuel ethanol.

Guess they are planning ahead. The advantage of casava is that it happly grows on soils and in conditions not much else will, so it can be established on poor marginal lands thus offering income to otherwise poor areas, and not competing for prime agricultural land.

Planting a fuel crop on your best farm land is never going to be clever. But I guess the price of the fuel will detirmine what gets planted where.

The other renewables are all woth working on but energy fro transport is tricky and if you are going to wait for everyone to buy new vehicles (electric say) it will simply take to long, we need to start solutions now. The change from fossil fuels will take many years. The sooner we start the better and the easier it is to do that the sooner people will start.

Answer 12

biofuel might be a temporary answer to the change needed.

it is easy to convert existing vehicles to that fuel, while it needs brand new engines/modified cars to deal with for example electricity as fuel, or hydrogen.

So on short term, it is a viable solution, but loing term it should be something better we aim for

Answer 13

look its not all bad but i day is keep the cars u got now. just convert them later plus i looked in to a nother source of power. hehehe AIR! if u thing i am joking u don't do much research on this trust me ther r 2 companys running for this one in europe and the other in alstraila. the alstrailan one says it can run under water... and gess what its true! i seen  the pic where the sunk it and put a air tube to it an it ran! the other on not so sure but the cars are sweet! go to www.theaircar.com trust me u forget the ethonal and other fuels but..... it lacks in power so.... no car can handle this motor. bummer i know.  l8r

Answer 14

Biofuel from corn?  You are referring to ethanol, which is terribly inefficient because distillation takes an enormous amount of energy.  It would be much better to skip the distillation and burn powdered corn directly in a diesel, as diesels already do with coal dust.  Unfortunately that requires a large diesel engine, not suitable for automobiles.

Answer 15

It is the use of corn that is not practical. What is needed is a plant that grows well on marginal land not suited for food crops and has a high starch, sugar, oil content.  If one does not exist, then it can be bioengineered.  Growing algae in tanks is another source. Thermal Conversion may be a way to make any vegetation into fuel.

The sun, wind, waves and water flow are difficult to change into a practical liquid or gas to use as fuel in a vehicle.  They all make electricity.  Solar power is the most expensive and the collectors impact the environment.  Wind power is unreliable, expensive and impacts the environment. Wave power is subject to storm damage and calm waters and impacts the environment. Water flow means building dams which impact the environment. There is some environut group to oppose each of these being built.

Electric vehicles are expensive with long recharge times and short ranges, limited to where the electric grid is available. About 90% of the world's electricity is made by steam power in nuclear or fuel burning plants. EV's do not cut down pollution so much as they shift it to all those new generating plants. There is a place for EV's, but not to replace the Toyota Camry, BMW sedan, Land Rover or any regular family car.

There is an engine which can use any liquid or gaseous fuel, the External Combustion engine or steam engine. Use a small one to power a generator in a plug-in EV and keep the batteries charged. A steam-electric hybrid, which could be any size/type vehicle desired. For running around town it would be an EV, but it could have A/C and heat and all the power accessories, because if the charge got too low the engine would start to charge the batteries. It would have the same range as a regular car and you would refuel quickly and be on your way. Once there you could plug it in and use it as a short-range EV again. It should get great mileage since fuel would only be used on long trips or in hot or cold weather.

For more,  contact - [e-mail] - and ask about steam-electric. or low energy houses.

Wow. Thought I was going to be first to answer.  Burning biofuels is CO2 neutral to the atmosphere as the plants take it out of the air. Making ethanol from corn is not so energy inefficient as some try to make it out to be as you can use solar or electric power to make it.  The idea is not to switch completely to one fuel which will replace petroleum products, but to have a mix of fuel options.  EC is suitable for many kinds of fuels and they do not have to be highly refined.  I despise Limiters who want to dictate the size of my engine, my car and how much I should drive.  EC is lower in pollution than internal combustion. No, the modern water tube boilers do not explode and in a hybrid do not operate at high pressure. Steam engines have fewer moving parts, so they last longer. With modern materials they are not heavier. Steam is more efficient than IC, which is why it is used for generation of electric power.  That is why there is a proposal to consider a steam-electric hybrid vehicle. Don't put it down just because you don't understand it or think it's obsolete or old fashioned.  E-mail the site and you can get  more answers.

Answer 16

I think the real answer to your question is, we already have a system for providing fuel for our vehicles, lets not change the system, but improve the economy of our vehicles.

We should have a limit on the size of engine, some small cars with small engines can out perform big gas guzzlers.

My little car does over 50mpg, but, although I can not use it, has a top speed of 125mph.

With careful driving, less unnecessary use of vehicles, and a bit more leg work, we would all be healthier, roads less congested, and the need for alternative fuel could be put on hold until technology provides us with an answer.

Answer 17

Yes, Biofuel is a stupid idea because

(a) it opens the door to GM crops in Europe (as there are no restrictions on non-food agriculture)

(b) it would take a very large amount of prime agricultural land out of production and food prices would rise

(c) doesn't do much for reduction in global warming

It only makes sense if

(a) you are the farmer and are growing your own fuel or

(b) you run the chippy and are recycling yr product