Biofuels a Direct Replacement for Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels have been the driving force of the world since the industrial revolution, powering almost every machine used by humans. The United States is the largest consumer of fossil fuels and is responsible for burning more than 350 million gallons of gasoline a day on average! This is an exorbitant amount of fuel and the repercussions of this magnitude of fuel consumption are still unconfirmed. Many theories, from global warming to acidic oceans, have been studied and despite all fingers pointing toward the culprit being fossil fuel, there is nothing that can immediately be done to stop or even slow the consumption. Our world runs on the black gold and we, as a society, cannot stop and wait for the solution to arrive.

            So, what is the solution? Could it be more fuel-efficient vehicles, or switching to electric power? Maybe it is hydrogen fuel cells or nuclear power. All of these ideas could be the solution, but it is doubtful. Fuel efficiency is very important and recently there have been more and more advertisements for cars working toward fuel mileage of 40 mpg or better. This is an obvious shift in the right direction and hopefully the technology will continue to advance pushing that number even higher, but unfortunately, it still doesn’t solve the issue that the oil reserves will one day run out and that pollution from fossil fuels is destroying our planet.  Other forms of fuel are being investigated, one possibility being electric hybrid cars have become an option in the recent past and may be a good idea, but how much fuel is burned to harvest the lithium ion used in the batteries of these cars? Also, how long do the batteries last and what happens to them when they fail? Are these consumers really lessoning their carbon footprint?

            What about biofuels? To what extent can biofuels become a sustainable replacement for fossil fuels? An enormous pro to using biofuels as a possible replacement for fossil fuel is the lack of change needed to the infrastructure of our mechanically built world. Every other possible option comes with a massive change to the way we harvest our energy for transportation and use. Biofuels is currently the only option that can directly replace the gasoline or diesel that the average consumer purchases at the pump. In fact, many municipal systems currently use biofuel to power their public transit busses. I feel that biofuels are the clear next step toward a cleaner sustainable source of transportation energy, but will it ever happen?  

I found this clip on youtube.com that explains the history of fossil fuels as well as the envisioned future. I found it quite interesting and agree with most of it. The speakers name is Richard Heinberg and the clip was posted by postcarboninstitute.