Cultivating Renewable Alternatives to Oil

1
Cultivating Renewable Alternatives to Oil

• Chapter 4

2
Opening

• The fuel of the future is going to come from
  fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from
  apples, weeds, sawdustalmost any thing Henry
  Ford
• Bio-fuels come from renewable feed stocks such as
  sugar cane or soybeans.
• Global production of ethanol has doubled since
  2000 and bio diesel has expanded three-fold.
• Brazil has started the trend of bio-fuel
  production with their ethanol being created with
  sugarcane. This accounts for over 40 of Brazils
  non-diesel motor fuel.

3
From the Still to the Bio-refinery

• Brazils government in 1975 launched a program to
  start the construction of distilleries to ferment
  sugar into ethanol.
• Brazil now offers flexible fuel options from
  pure ethanol fuel to mix blends of ethanol and
  gas. Because of this, they have saved over 50
  billion dollars in imported oil costs.
• Bio-diesel is another major fuel used which is
  created from vegetable oils with a mixture of
  alcohol.
• Europe produces 95 of the worlds bio-diesel
  created from rapeseed and sunflower seeds.

4
From the Still Continued

• Advocates say that bio-diesels are
  environmentally healthy, is non toxic and is
  biodegradable.
• The Chinese government has followed that of
  Brazil and has started to use ethanol-gasoline
  fuels and production.
• Fuel created by all the corn produced in the U.S
  only meets 15 of light vehicle needs.
• A solution to this problem is to converting
  cellulosic materials such as plant stalks and
  leaves from harvest and use enzymes to break down
  the fiver into sugars for ethanol.

5
Environmental Risks and Opportunities

• The combustion of bio fuels results in far lower
  emissions of several pollutants including carbon
  monoxide, hydro carbons, sulfur dioxide, and
  particulate matter.
• The advantage of using bio fuels is that it helps
  reduce the threat of climate change and carbon
  emissions.
• However corn derived ethanol may emit just as
  much carbon as fossil fuels if it is grown with
  nitrogen fertilizers from natural gas.
• If renewable energy is not used to produce
  fertilizers and propel tractors, studies show
  that there is a significant energy gain and less
  emission of greenhouse gasses.

6
Fueling Development

• Bio fuels give potential to boost rural economies
  around the world.
• Bio fuel companies tend to buy their corn or
  other products within a 100 mile radius of the
  production site. This helps local farmers because
  the prices for the corn are raised, giving back
  more money.
• Bio fuels provide low cost fuel for lighting,
  cooking, and other necessities.
• Most bio fuel production sites are locally owned,
  compared to fossil fuels. If one site of bio fuel
  were to experience drought, they could still
  purchase the fuel from a different location. Not
  the same for fossil fuels.

7
The Future of Bio Fuels

• Bio diesel fuel production outlooks have
  predicted a 25 to 50 percent raise, which means
  that bio fuels will replace said percent of
  petroleum fuels.
• If bio fuel is produced wrong, this could deplete
  soils, cause air and water pollution and destroy
  habitats.
• Bio fuels have an advantage over petrol fuels -
  local production sites. Petrol fuels are in many
  places unstable or hostile locations which makes
  for a rise in the purchase of the fuel.