Is bio fuels the answer to our fuel energy crisis?

Question

Is bio fuels the answer to our fuel energy crisis?

Answer 1

Yes, dispite the comment about wheat above.

the grain of wheat does not provide near enough biomatter to use effectively for fuels like other grains do.

but the wheat straw can be use to make biofuels. we don't eat that so it was probably never considered in the figures.

quit reading that garbage that tries to mislead its audience.

yes biofuels will be what solves energy and fuel problems.

soon hydrogen will be made by microorgansims to produce fuel cells for transportation.

microorganisms will be used to make ethanol for small, portable gas powered engines.(that is the way i see ethanol evolving anyway)

microorganisms will be used to make methane that produces electricity. coupled with solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear energy, i think that will solve any electricity needs.

and geothermal energy will be what heats our homes.

Answer 2

i'm with jj

Answer 3

There is no one answer to the fuel/energy problem.

Plants can be genetically engineered for the purpose of conversion to fuel that will thrive in land that is marginal for food crops. There are millions of acres of land that used to be farms that are not farms due to economics and the interest of the owners, which if profitable would be planted in fuel crops. Biofuels are a part of the solution.

Oil will never disappear as a source of energy, the problem is our dependence on it and its sources. In WW II Germany made synthetic fuels, now we can make them better and cleaner. Coal is a good source of raw material for several types of fuels and depending on how they are used they could be less polluting than oil fuels.

Electricity is not a fuel, since it must be made using coal, nuclear, waterpower or very expensive solar power. Hydrogen is not a fuel, but a form of energy storage, since it must be made using  electricity and  natural gas, water or coal. The problem is it is difficult to transport and for use in a vehicle the storage for an equal range is extremely bulky.

We will probably have vehicles using a variety of power sources depending upon their use and a variety of fuels depending on availability in the market and which costs less.

Internal Combustion engines normally require highly refined and expensive fuels, emit chemical pollutants which require complex controls and the engine has a lot of moving parts to wear out or break down. Electric Vehicles require expensive batteries for high performance, so to get a 400 mile range, highway speed and the weight of a normal car is very expensive. EV's do very well in short range travel, but do require long recharge times, making them unsuitable to replace the normal family car. The electricity used has to be made in the usual ways and distributed on the power grid. A storm or other disaster which knocks out the power grid renders them immobile.

By adding a portable generator to a low-cost EV, one that normally has a 20 mile range at 80 mph, you could increase the range to the limit of your fuel tank, yet retain the use of it as a plug-in EV for short trips at lower speeds. Then you could have one dual-purpose vehicle rather than a 5 passenger IC car for travelling long distances and a 5 passenger EV for running around town.  Make that portable generator capable of using cheap fuels and easily switchable from one fuel to another.  It would be an external combustion engine, which could use furnace fuel, vegetable oil, liquified coal or any other liquid or gaseous fuel to heat a working medium. Water expands to 17 times its volume, allowing a small amount to do a lot of work. That means a steam engine, which is safe, cleaner and more efficient than an IC engine.

The steam electric vehicle hybrid could be one of a range of types of vehicles using different power sources, each designed for slightly different uses.  It could replace the IC powered family car. IC engines would still be used in high performance vehicles and trucks. For those who can afford more than a single all-purpose car and need a small EV for the city, there would be a niche for EV's. EV's are also good for local delivery trucks whose routes allow them to sit and recharge overnight.  Even tiny compressed-air powered cars would work in cities.

One other good thing about the steam-electric hybrid is that if the power grid fails you can power essential appliances in your house by running the car. It would also serve as an emergency generator.

So I think we will see a mix of fuels/energy sources in the future. There will be more small-scale solar energy used in homes, a larger variety of fuels/power sources and vehicles to use them. Whatever is most economical will win out. Politicians, environmental nuts may try to push the expensive solutions, but people don't want  to pay more for less.

Answer 4

The answer to everything is that there never is THE one answer to anything.

Life and problems are very diverse and problem needs a wide range of measures to tackle it, reliance on one causes other problems

e.g Bio fuel production is destroying the habitat for Orangutans

Answer 5

Maybe.  There are lots of questions surrounding biofuels, the chief ones being the food vs fuel question and the energy content question (corn ethanol contains less energy then gasoline).  However, lots of promising research is being conducted now and literally billions of dollars are being thrown at it.  Here's a good online article about one biofuel project that may turn out to be a gold mine:

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a...

Answer 6

no nuclear is no other fuel other than coal oil and gas produce enough energy for us booming countries like china and the world

Answer 7

No.  BioFuels require tremendous amounts of land and water and can never be produced in sufficient quantities to replace our petroleum fuels.

However, the Bush Administration has been pushing Hydrogen energy, generated by geothermal plants, which has great potential to replace petroleum fuels.  The Bush hydrogen plan seems the best bet for our energy future.  The Army is already using hydrogen powered trucks and more H-fuel vehicles are on the road every day.

Hydrogen can be produced wherever one has electricity and water.

Answer 8

i don't think bio fuels will be the answer because we already know that monocultures in agriculture are not a gopod idea...it's not so much about them being in competition with food crops and more to do with teh environmental damage that will be and already has been done in producing teh biofuels themselves.

in Brazil tehy ahve cut down even more of teh pristine rain forest inorder to plant the biofuel crops...there's no point averting one environmantal disaster by making another one worse...

recycling oil to use makes sense on a small acale but mass produced biofuel is a loser...more's teh pity...

i don't know what will help, i suspect a mix of different ideas but most of all we all need to look at reducing our consumption, of fuels as well as other finite resources..we need to invest more in public transport and make sure town planning takes into account proximity of services instead of building out of town housing and shopping centers which mean a car is absolutely necessary..

Answer 9

No for all the above reasons, but it will help wile they design more efficient vehicles. In the 1960's most cars could only do 30 - 35 mpg now 40 - 45 mpg is common. But I am afraid I think for homes and businesses we will have to consider nuclear power as the way forward till we perfect wave and wind power.

New houses now have double glazing against single why not treble as they do in Scandinavia? Modern houses have a cavity wall why not two?

Answer 10

No, farmers will not bother with wheat and such and food prices would increase.

The best solution is economising. Hybrid technology and lean-burn engines.

More power stations should be powered by willow. It grows d**n fast. We should also have small biomass power stations in towns to save transmission losses. If wood is burned at a high enough temperature, only co2 and h20 should be released.

Answer 11

It was the answer to Brazil's. They're now almost energy independent because of biofuel made from sugar cane. Now if we could actually get our government to invest money in alternative fuel sources instead of giving tax breaks to people with Hummers...

Answer 12

no

Answer 13

yes but then in time im sure they will be abused too! remember oil etc was a wonder of nature?! black gold...now its causing the world a headache!oh well i guess we humans will always turn solutions into a problems eventually x*x

Answer 14

The short answer is no. No matter the tag you place on it , a fuel is a fuel and will produce a polutent as a byproduct; though it may be cleaner burning and possibly cheaper in the short term. Those who have read some of my thoughts on this issue know that I am not a fan of any fuel which is symply a replacement for the gas and diesel we already use. Why? Because if you don't own it, you have to pay for it. You have to shoulder the cost of making it, refining it, transporting it, storing it and ensuring that envestors get big returns for it on the commodity markets. Sound familiar? I'm not picking on the oil companies, I just wish I had a choice (other than to drive or not to drive) and batteries are the way to go. I can charge them up for free (solar, wind etc) or pay my local power company. Choice....that's fair.

Answer 15

I was going to say the same thing as speakeasy.  I definately a gree with you there.  As for Steve F's comment, please read more into Global Warming before staying with pertrol...  You may have a warmer climate now, but your future generations will have an ice age to go through a little too early along with unheard of weather changes, since the Co2 emissions are now at the greatest height they have ever been (from recorded Co2 ice cores).  We have a lot of work ahead of us to clean up what we've done.

Answer 16

As far as I understand it biofuel would still produce CO2 whereas hydrogen just produces water vapour, so hydrogen is the way to go.

Answer 17

Probably not much of an answer due to the issues of us needing enough to eat and also wanting to use improved farming technology to return some farmland to the wild.

For transportation fuels I suspect biofuels will have a role to play because we're going to need everything we can get to replace oil but synthetic hydrocarbons are what I'd prefer myself (hydrogen is nice but it is rather hard to handle, a synthetic diesel fuel would be much easier).

To those who mention Brazil, they don't use very much fuel compared to a lot of other countries and they still don't run every car on 100% biofuels (i.e. they still import oil).

Answer 18

Sugar cane is, which is grown abundantly in Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Brazil and the Caribbean are totally non-dependent on gasoline to fuel their cars. And sugar cane is much cheaper than corn and soy beans.

Answer 19

I would say hydrogen but the people in charge, *cough* Blair and Bush *cough* are too ingorant to promote the hydrogen fuels and renewable energy.  Their ignorence has doomed us all.  =[

Answer 20

Hydrogen is the best way forward, it just produces clean water!!!         Why do we not have it yet? Ask the oil companies who buy up all the patents!!!

Answer 21

I believe it will be a combination of many different technologys.It will  reqiure a lot of investment in the many types of infrastructure to accomplish this.Bio fuels are a small part of the solution.

Answer 22

It is but you will have to go vegetarian.

Answer 23

There's lots of rubbish in this thread. Electricity isn't a fuel, it's a medium for energy storage. The energy has to come from a source.

A single fuel change won't solve anybody's crisis (and you may as well define "our" while we are at it)- the energy production and consumption system has to change. And we basically need to use less energy per head.

Rubbish, now there's a fuel - there seems to be a vast supply of that.

Answer 24

Biofuels are a "stop gap" damage limitation soloution until a genuinely cleaner energy source is perfected. Possibley hydrogen fuel cells.

Answer 25

Nuclear, solar, hydro, geothermal, and wind imo.

Answer 26

Burning = Co2.

If you're interested in finding the best alternative to petrol,

please check out my blog.

Answer 27

Depends on your location and food needs of your people. Most probably biofuels and solar will combine to give a solution to the energy crisis.

Answer 28

Definatelt not. The sun falls on plants which turn heat and light into storable energy. This can be used immediately as in biofuels. There is also a store of this energy in the ground. This is oil, gas and coal. (fossil fuels) These are the biofuels from millions of years of production. We are currently using the energy from sunlight that fell on the earth millions of years ago for millions of years. Yes we have millions of years worth of sunlight stored in the Earth for us and we are running out.

At that rate of use it follows that there is not enough sun energy falling on earth daily to meet our current energy needs. We need to use less energy. No other answer will work

Answer 29

An interesting statistic I heard on the radio last wek was that if all the wheat production in the world were to be turned over to biofuel it would produce enough fuel to power our world for ........8 days a year!

So basically No. We would all starve.

Answer 30

u can't be sure on this one. thre is a shortage of crops needed fors this, so wat now? we got 500 years only to live on this planet, after that, no more life on earth.