Biofuels for a Better Future.
By Jacob Leonard.
The Fossil fuel Problem
Fossil fuels have been an integral cog in the machine that is the global economy for generations. While fossil fuels have not always played such a large role in society, they have had practical applications dating back thousands of years, “According to ancient Greek historian Herodotus, bitumen from a small tributary of the River Euphrates (in modern-day Iraq), was used for the construction of the wall of Babylon, the most famous city of ancient Mesopotamia.” (Kool, “History”). Nowadays, fossil fuels are used on a much larger scale that has become damaging to our environment.
The consumption of fossil fuels has grown exponentially since their initial use, and continues to rise every year, “the world’s energy supply by source is distributed as follows: oil 34.3%, coal 25.1%, natural gas 20.9%, renewable energy 10.6%, nuclear energy 6.5%, hydro-energy 2.2% and others 0.4%.” (Silva.). With the usage rate of these resources climbing, it becomes difficult to predict when we will deplete our reserves. One prediction by “Zime Science” states that this day could be upon us sooner than some expect. Zime stated, “In order to project how much time we have left before the world runs out of oil, gas, and coal, one method is measuring the R/P ratios — that is the ratio of reserves to current rates of production. At the current rates of production, oil will run out in 53 years, natural gas in 54, and coal in 110.” (Puiu). That being said, predictions have been made before that have been proven to be false. Making this prediction can be pretty tricky, but one thing is for certain, fossil fuels are finite resources that are damaging the environment with their increased usage.
Fossil fuels have proven to be one of the biggest detriments to our environment by far, “In 2018, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion (burning) for energy were equal to about 75% of total U.S. anthropogenic GHG emissions (based on 100-year global warming potential) and about 93% of total U.S. anthropogenic CO2 emissions.” (EIA). Fossil fuels are hurting our environment in more ways than one, “Unearthing, processing, and moving underground oil, gas, and coal deposits take an enormous toll on our landscapes and ecosystems. The fossil fuel industry leases vast stretches of land for infrastructure such as wells, pipelines, access roads, as well as facilities for processing, waste storage, and waste disposal.” (Denchak) Implementing Biofuels on a larger scale alongside fossil fuels will provide valuable time in the efforts to find a viable replacement. It will also prove fruitful in alleviating the stress put on our environment by fossil fuels.
Fixing the Fossil Fuel Fiasco
Biofuels should be implemented on a larger scale as a means to provide environmental relief and time for further research into permanent replacements. While initially, a large-scale shift towards Biofuels would be expensive in the short-term, our wallets and our planet will thank us in the long run.
Implementing certain forms of biofuel such as fuels derived from sugarcane can help increase efficiency in the production of fuels, but more importantly, could provide an immediate decrease in emissions. Kris Walker of AZO CleanTech reinforces this claim saying, “Ethanol produced from sugarcane is highly efficient as the crop produces high yields per hectare. The fossil energy input required for producing ethanol can be lowered if bagasse is used to provide power and heat for the process. Hence, CO2 emissions could be as low as 0.2–0.3 kg CO2/lt ethanol when compared to 2.8 kg CO2/lt for conventional gasoline.” (Walker). While Land use is required to produce biofuels, the adverse effects it can have on the environment are far outweighed by current fossil fuel practices. Techniques employed by fossil fuel production such as strip mining can leave stretches of land permanently damaged, “ In the case of strip mining, entire swaths of terrain — including forests and whole mountaintops — are scraped and blasted away to expose underground coal or oil. Even after operations cease, the nutrient-leached land will never return to what it once was.” (Denchak). The negative impact on our ecosystems is not just limited to land; the burning of fossil fuels is destroying our oceans which serve as a food source for countless individuals across the world. Denchak goes on to elaborate on how the burning process changes the oceans acidic levels in her article “Fossil Fuels: The Dirty Facts”, stating, “Our seas absorb as much as a quarter of all man-made carbon emissions. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution (and our coal-burning ways), the ocean has become 30 percent more acidic.” (Denchak). When diving into the subject of Fossil fuel production, it becomes clear that any way we can limit the use of these harmful compounds, the better off our planet will be.
How it could work.
There have been successful tests in the practical use of biofuels (specifically Biodiesel) in transportation, “In 1995, the University of Idaho provided biodiesel to Yellowstone National Park, which used the fuel in a truck that has been driven several hundred thousand miles without damage to the engine and is still in use.” (Farm-Energy). Finding more ways to include biofuel in our day-to-day means of transportation could be the perfect method to reduce emissions.
The opposition.
Since the benefits sound so promising in providing environmental relief, some may argue that biofuels are the permanent replacement for fossil fuels. However, there is evidence to suggest they are not ready for full-scale implementation. The sheer amount of land that would be required for a complete transition to biofuels would bring about its own bevy of issues, “from an ecological point of view, the expansion of mono-cultivation and the large demand for agricultural areas may represent a negative influence of forests and other natural ecosystems, with the consequent loss of biodiversity” (Silva). Not only would it affect natural ecosystems, the land we currently use for things such as livestock would also be affected and is an issue the biofuel industry is already facing “ the industry also faces many challenges like allegations by development organizations and environmentalists that farmers are making use of the land to grow biofuel feedstock alone rather than food whereby driving up food prices globally.” (Walker). If biofuels were the only source of energy used to meet our ever-growing needs, they would be outmatched.
How else could they help?
Outside of the clear environmental benefits, biofuels could potentially save money in the long term. While at first, the shift would be expensive, experts paying now would pay off later, “The use of biofuels would indeed result in net fuel cost savings of $890 billion when compared to fossil fuels. The key issue to take into consideration is that higher number of biofuels may make the overall fuel costs more expensive than the fossil fuels on a short-term horizon. However, those initial costs could be compensated by the fuel cost savings in the longer-run.” (Walker). Some people may not be motivated by helping save the environment, but almost everyone is motivated by saving money.
A Call to Action.
A commonly used phrase in life is “Keep up so you don’t have to catch up.” and when it comes to the environment, we must act before it is too late. Biofuels could act as a crutch for an industry nearing its last legs. As we know, fossil fuels will be depleted at some point, and as we increase our usage, not only do we begin to run out of time to find a viable replacement, we will cause irreversible damage to the only planet we have.
Works Cited:
2013, Kris WalkerMay 13. “The Cost of Biofuel Production.” AZoCleantech.com, 22 May 2019, www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=337.
“The Complete History Of Fossil Fuels.” OilPrice.com, 1 Jan. 1970, oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Complete-History-Of-Fossil-Fuels.html.
Farm-Energy. “History of Biodiesel.” Farm Energy, 12 Apr. 2019, farm-energy.extension.org/history-of-biodiesel/.
“How Long before the World Runs out of Fossil Fuels?” ZME Science, 28 Jan. 2021, www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/how-long-fossil-fuels-last-
June 29, 2018 Melissa Denchak. Fossil Fuels: The Dirty Facts. 21 Apr. 2021, www.nrdc.org/stories/fossil-fuels-dirty-facts.
“U.S. Energy Information Administration — EIA — Independent Statistics and Analysis.” Biofuels Explained — U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), www.eia.gov/energyexplained/biofuels/.
Silva, Roberto, and Amarildo Silva. “The Potential Benefits and Risks to the Environment in Using Bio-Energy.” Systemic Practice & Action Research, vol. 24, no. 6, Dec. 2011, pp. 545–554. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11213–011–9207–7.
Watkins, John P. “Environmental Economics.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2020. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=ers&AN=89474141&site=eds-live.
