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The Truth About Biofuels

Biofuels are simply the conversion of energy from plant/vegetable matter. All they are is just a way of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. There are a number of derivatives of biofuels that are used frequently with ethanol being the most commonly used but the is also sugar can and the oil from both vegetables and corn. However, not all ethanol products are designed to be used as a kind of gasoline. Although currently only two percent of ethanol is used as a gasoline substitute currently, but 2025 that figure could be ten percent and thirty percent by 2050 according to The International Energy Agency (IEA).

On the other hand, this biofuels research needs to be improved and a study from the Oregon State University showed that it can be convenient and profitable. We still have to develop an alternative to gasoline (from petroleum) that is equally, if not more efficient and practical. The amount of usable energy that we can draw from a certain amount of input energy for our daily needs measures up the energy efficiency. It never occurred that mankind has employed anything that obtained more energy from output than from what was the needed input. While it is true that the end product energy is what’s more valuable for our needs and that the input energy is just the effort it takes to produce the end-product, taking into consideration that what truly matters is the conversion, is important. The OSU study found corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient (gasoline made from petroleum is 75% energy efficient). Nevertheless, the study was able to positively tabulate that cellulose-derived ethanol has an even greater efficiency of about 85% as compared to the enormously efficient nuclear energy.

With the enticing and promising effects of biofuels, investors are undeniably anticipating increased profits from it and this may bring about the rise of the grain futures market of the Chicago Stock Exchange that will soon whip away investment activities from the oil futures in NY. In fact it is now believed among scientific circles that by 2030, around thirty percent of the world’s fuel used for transport will be supplied by these fuels. If governments start to promote the use of these eco-friendly fuels more then some analysts believe the use of diesel and gasoline will reduce accordingly.

The world’s biggest producer of ethanol derived from sugars which is Brazil can be sited as an example. Each year, it generates ethanol of about three and a half billion gallons. Despite their love of gasoline, the United States is the second largest producer of biofuels. Meanwhile the European Union lags way behind with only four million tonnes per year. Now eighty percent of Europe’s biodiesel comes from rapeseed oil with the remaining twenty percent from soybean and a little from palm oil.