Biofuel Technology

The other day I read an interesting article about the “boom” in bioethanol use in the USA in an effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Billions of bushels of corn are being refined into bioethanol to fuel the millions of cars now being produced to run on it. President Bush has made arrangements with Brazil, a leader in bioethanol technology, to share production secrets.

It seems that the numbers of American farmers that have jumped on the bandwagon are causing concern over the availability and cost of corn for food products, and the reassignment of arable land to the production of corn instead of other food crops. All this for a solution that isn’t without its problems: Bioethanol is only marginally better, if at all, than fossil fuels, in terms of the effects on the environment. Although it runs cleaner and contributes to reduced smog levels, the net production of greenhouse gases might be even greater when you consider costs associated with growing the crops, transport, refining etc.

There are arguably many pros and cons to using biofuels, and certainly other options for replacing fossil fuels in the works, including using other non-food plants as a source of bioethanol and biodiesel. Technologies for propane, hydrogen, solar and electric powered vehicles are also gradually improving. It’s just a matter of doing what we can to support the research behind environmental biotechnology and, for the time being, choosing carefully from what options we have right now, to do what we can for the environment.