Bio-fuels are produced by converting organic substance into fuel for powering our modern society. These bio-fuels are an alternative energy 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, and also vegetable and corn oils. Having said that, not all ethanol products are designed to be used as a kind of gasoline. The International Energy Agency (IEA) informs us that ethanol could comprise up to 10 percent of the world’s usable gasoline by 2025, and up to thirty percent by 2050. Nowadays, the percentage figure is two percent.
However, we have a long way to go to improve and make economic and practical these bio-fuels that we are researching. A study by Oregon State University shows this. We have yet to cultivate bio-fuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline derived from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measurement of how much usable energy for our necessary applications is derived from a certain level of input energy. (Nothing that humankind has ever used has derived more energy from output than from what the necessary input was. What has always been critical is the conversion – the end-product energy which is what is useful for our needs, while the input energy is just the effort it takes to generate the end-product.) The OSU study determined corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient (gasoline produced from petroleum is 75% energy efficient). Bio-diesel fuel was recorded at 69% energy efficiency. Having said that, the study did turn up one positive: cellulose-derived ethanol was charted at 85% efficiency, which is even higher than that of the fantastically efficient nuclear energy.
Recently, oil futures have been reduced on the New York Stock Exchange, as analysts from several different countries are predicting a surge in bio-fuel availability which would offset the value of oil, dropping crude oil prices on the international 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 definitely expecting better profitability to start coming from bio-fuels. Indeed, it is predicted by a consensus of analysts that bio-fuels shall 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 slow down dramatically, if the government subsidizes organizations distributing bio-fuels and further pushes to increase the use of environmentally-friendly fuel.
There are several nations which are seriously involved in the growth of bio-fuels.
There is Brazil, which happens to be the world’s biggest producer of ethanol fuel derived from sugars. It produces roughly three and a half billion gallons of ethanol per year.
The States, while being the world’s biggest oil-guzzler, is already the second largest producer of bio-fuels behind Brazil.
The European Union’s bio-diesel production capacity is now in excess of four million (British) tonnes. 80 percent of the EU’s bio-diesel fuels are produced from rapeseed oil; soybean oil and a marginal amount of palm oil comprise the other 20 percent.
There also exists new health-related solutions which have been created, from zero point energy. To learn more about these try searching words like “amega“, “amwand” or “zero point wand comparisons” in your preferred Internet search engine.
