Bio-fuels are made by converting organic matter into fuel for powering our society. These bio-fuels are an alternative power source to the fossil fuels that we now depend upon. The bio-fuels umbrella contains under its aegis ethanol and derivatives of crops such as sugar cane, as well as vegetable and corn oils. Having said that, not all ethanol products are developed to be used as a kind of gasoline. The International Energy Agency (IEA) informs us that ethanol could comprise up to 10% of the world’s usable gasoline by 2025, and up to thirty percent by 2050. Nowadays, the percentage figure is two percent.
Having said that, we have a long way to go to refine and make economic and practical these bio-fuels that we are looking into. A study by Oregon State University proves this. We have yet to develop bio-fuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline derived from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy for our demanded applications is derived from a certain volume of input energy. (Nothing that mankind has ever made use of has derived more energy from output than from what the needed input was. What has always been important is the conversion – the end-product energy which is what is useful for our needs, while the input energy is basically the effort it takes to produce the end-product.) The OSU study found corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient (gasoline made from petroleum is 75 percent energy efficient). Bio-diesel fuel was noted at 69% energy efficiency. However, the study did turn up one positive: cellulose-derived ethanol ended up being charted at 85% efficiency, which is even higher than that of the fantastically efficient nuclear energy.
Of late, oil futures have been down on the New York Stock Exchange, as analysts from numerous different countries are predicting an increase in bio-fuel availability which will offset the value of oil, reducing crude oil prices on the world market to $40 per barrel or thereabouts. The Chicago Stock Exchange has a grain futures market which is starting to “steal” investment activity away from the oil futures in NY, as investors are unquestionably expecting better profitability to start coming from bio-fuels. In fact, it is predicted by a consensus of analysts that bio-fuels will probably be supplying seven percent of the entire world’s transportation fuels by the year 2030. One certain energy markets analyst has said, growth in demand for diesel and gasoline may possibly slow down dramatically, if the government subsidizes organizations distributing bio-fuels and further pushes to increase the use of environmentally-friendly fuel.
There are numerous nations which are seriously engaged in the growth of bio-fuels.
There is Brazil, which happens to be the world’s biggest producer of ethanol fuel produced from sugars. It produces approximately three and a half billion gallons of ethanol a year.
The United States, while being the world’s greatest oil-guzzler, is already the second largest producer of bio-fuels behind Brazil.
The European Union’s bio-diesel production capacity is now greater than four million (British) tonnes. 80 percent of the EU’s bio-diesel fuels are created from rapeseed oil; soybean oil and a marginal amount of palm oil comprise the other 20 percent.
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