Fueling the Planet : Biofuels and Renewable Energy

Biofuels are combustible from biological origin (energy crops), not fossil, and, therefore, renewable. It's solar energy captured through photosynthesis and converted into chemical energy that can be used in internal combustion engines.

The EU, in recent legislation considers as biofuels, among others, bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas, biomethanol, biohydrogen and vegetable oils, all produced from biomass.

Biofuels have become one of the fastest growing markets worldwide. And at the same time have become one of the most controversial topics. It’s important at this point to state that there are two clearly different types of raw materials for biofuels production: waste or residue biomass and energy crops.

The controversy is around food crops being used for biofuel production, as in the case of corn and soya bean. But also non-food crops may endanger biodiversity due to the need of forest clearing to grow them.

In the other hand biofuel production from waste or residue biomass is clearly beneficial and research and technology development is being highly supported. The technology available for waste processing in some cases is still under development but in the short future economically viable plants will process waste biomass to produce ethanol, methanol, butanol and other biofuels.

Nearly 95% of bioethanol world production comes from Brazil and USA. While Brazil makes its ethanol from sugar cane, through an alcohol program started in the 70’s (PROALCOOL), USA process mostly corn.

The EU in the other hand is the major biodiesel producer and consumer in the world. Biodiesel is generally considered more energy efficient than ethanol. Europe is aiming to replace 5.75% of the total road transportation fuel consumption by biofuels, and wants to reach 20% by 2020.

There are many things to take into consideration in the evaluation of the benefits and disadvantages of making biofuels. All this has to be done in a responsible way. The UN has published a report on this: Sustainable Bioenergy: A Framework for Decision Makers, where you can find the implications of biofuels production for food security, biodiversity and climate change.

Our purpose is to provide the latest and more objective information as a way to contribute to education regarding this so crucial subject for humankind. To make biofuels evil or panacea is not a thing that can be done lightly and partialized. In the end it’s a matter of finding the right balance to take advantage of the potential of all the available energy sources while making good use of natural resources without endangering biodiversity.

This is not a simple thing to achieve though, and mainly because of the interests of economical groups behind fuels production. This is why governments, researchers and NGO’s have a vital role to help understand the implications of biofuels production and take the right steps to reach the needed balance. It’s all about responsibility and objectivity.

Check these resources on Biofuels and RE (Clicking on any item will take you to Amazon.com):