Is bio fuels in future will satisify our fuel needs or it create havoc to our food security?

Question

Now a days most of the contries are investing,R &D on alternate fuels and keeping most of the land for cultivating these cash crops. I think that in the near future major part of the cultivable land get converted to grow these value added crops creating decline in agricultural food stufs

Answer 1

when they talk abt the oil crisis,they'll say that the world should run on bio-fuel to save the scarce petroleum products,and when they talk abt the food crisis,they ask if one should concentrate on them when thousands are starving..!!!stupid people..

Answer 2

"Bio" means life.  When we burn anything "bio" we are taking it out of the living cycle, and while the earth is very self-healing, it has limits.  Biofuels will surpass those limits by burning more organic matter than the earth's natural systems can supply, and the balance that regenerates our soil, moderates weather, cleans our water supply, etc. will be broken.

Not only will more agricultural and rainforest land be used for highly priced biofuel production, but the natural cycle of nutrient replenishment for soil that affects food quality and abundance will also be depleted as natural composting of bio-materials are reduced.

What is left out of most discussions on biofuels and even oil conservation is that solutions are NOT all about technology. The first and major solution is to REDUCE use of these materials by driving less, using less electricity, and buying and throwing away less stuff.  Conservation is our friend and ally in meeting the basic needs of our escalating population!

Oh, reducing the population voluntarily or having it happen by way of more severe weather emergencies is also a choice.  Less is better in our age,  and that's a big change in the way we need to think as adults who make choices every day that will affect our own well being, our children and great, great grandchildren.

My websites provide many practical solutions for businesses, communities and families to simplify their use of climate changing practices. I hope you will explore and share our options for a better way to survive ...  

Carolyn Allen, CaliforniaGreenSolutions.com and BackyardNature.com

Answer 3

We have to find a solution to this oil crisis. The fact is that oil is going to get over very soon and we are not ready to go 150 years back. Bio-fuels are a promising thing, though I am not sure if food-crops should be replaced for it. We should try to find out an alternative way.

Answer 4

The most promising fuel for replacement is bio diesel.  It can be made out of the scrap material we do not eat, corn stalks, yard clippings, etc.  Currently it has a couple of problems,

Is it energy efficient? Ie, does it take more fuel to produce the fuel than the fuel creates.

Gels in temperature that is very cold at all.

In time R&D may figure out the issues.

Answer 5

That's what happens when you let gov't lead the way instead of free enterprise. Cellulosic ethanol doesn't have that problem. But in fact, you can't blame biofuels for food shortages. If you filter out all the media noise, it becomes apparent that we have plenty of production capacity, and that the real problem is market speculation.

Answer 6

The unfortunate problem here is we could be going to "waste to oil streams" that can produce more fuel than ethanol ever could.

h**l the left over material after the corn has been processed at an ethanol plant can be put through TCP and turned into oil at a better efficiency rate than most ethanol plants can do.

Answer 7

Currently there are 101 ethanol plants on line.  These factories have created some of the worst food shortages in years.

There are another 100 ethanol plants being built right now.

Imagine twice the food be taken out of the food chain to be burned in our cars.

Someone is going without, and again the environmentalist sacrifice the poor in order to raise their standard of living.

Answer 8

It is very heartening to know that the younger generation is very  consciencious of the implications of the environmental issues in the future to  come.

Do  not  lose heart .V already have vehcles  moving on water  /Hydrogen.

Happy  motoring.

Answer 9

It depends on the bio-fuel and the Federal Government.

Corn based ethanol is and will create havoc.

Sugar Cane based ethanol will have little impact of the food supply, but you have to get the Feds to quit pandering to the sugar cane farmers in the US and import the stuff from Brazil and Colombia.  What are there, like 5 sugar cane farms in the whole U.S.?  We are killing ourselves and creating food shortages for less than a handful of people?  Nuts!

Bio-diesel "should" not create havoc, as it can be made from waste products, as opposed to virgin plant oil.  Again, it depends on how many Politicians choose to do what is right instead of taking money to "protect" a handful of people and insist that it be made from virgin plant oil.

If the Feds would just let the market make the choices instead of holding out carrots trying to promote one idea or another, we would all be better off.