Biofuels Disadvantages Environmental Issues

Land is another topic for discussion, how much land will be needed to grow enough crops for mass biofuel production? Water is another resource that is needed in large quantities to water the plants and the price of certain foods may increase especially corn since it is one of the primary producers of ethanol used for biodiesel fuel.

As you are probably aware with the expansion of the ethanol sector, where will ethanol producers get the corn? with a corn-to-ethanol conversion rate of 2.7 gallons per bushel the ethanol sector will need 2.6 billion bushels per year by 2010. So with ethanol as fuel, what will be the economic sustainablity of biodiesel? It will take more research on how plant oils are used as well as fuel system engine durablility.

Biofuels as an energy source will produce some problems and challenges, it will take further tests, studies and solutions to reach a balance that will be beneficial for the environment and the new generation of alternative renewable fuels that will utilize the following Biogas, Alcohol Fuels, Butanol Fue, Methanol Fuel, Ethanol Fuel, Cellulosic Ethanol, E85, Vegetable Oil Used as Fuel, Biomass, Wood Fuel, Wood Gas, Bagasse, Fuel from Animals, Whale Oil, Cow Dung, and Renewable Natural Gas which are the many alternative energy options for individuals and businesses.

The fact that energy demands will continue to increase in the future. Through research and development, the hope is many of the disadvantages of renewable sources of energy can be eliminated and we can successfully incorporate it into our power supplies.

Agriculture is needed to produce crops for oil plants and grasses, some biofuels come from food crops and have many concerned with a shortage of food supply as a result of trying to increase biomass energy production, so will energy crops compete?

Other issues include the use of agrofuel to ethanol, wood, vegetable oil and even algae as petroleum substitutes for vehicles, has been argued the some biofuels actually cause green house gas emissions as well as nitrous oxide that is used to test the effectiveness of biofuels can cause pollution.

Corn for ethanol is the prime crop for biofuel in the U.S. in Europe the main crop is rapeseed one variety of which is canola, which accounts for 80 percent of biofuel production, scientists found that the use of biofuels released twice as much as nitrous oxide and 3 to 5 percent of the nitrogen in fertilizer was converted and emitted.

It will be important to look at the advantages of biofuels that make them suitable as an energy source for now and into the future, then compare that to the disadvantages of biofuels that could make them unsuitable as a large-scale energy source in the present economy, if these are done properly it will be easy to come to a conclusion on if the disadvantages or problems can be overcome.

It is important to understand that Biofuels are produced from living organisms or from metabolic by-products such as organic or food waste products so to be considered a biofuel the fuel must contain over 80 percent renewable materials, interestingly enough the photosynthesis process makes it also a solar energy source.

The Future of Global Biofuels, Biodiesel and Ethanol, William Thurmond, President of Emerging Markets Online and author of Biodiesel 2020: A Global Market Survey discuss global biofuels policies as well as how the European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states, are committed to regional integration, and have agreed that the EU is to use 20% renewable energy in the future and that is has to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by at least 20% compared to 1990 levels.

This includes one-tenth of all cars and trucks should be running on biofuels. This is to fight global warming, one key point in its energy policy is to use existing energy supplies more efficiently while increasing use of renewable energy and finally increase funding for new energy technologies.