Add Biobutanol To Your Vocab Of Alternative Fuels |
5 Comments |
| By Michael d'Estries in BioFuel | June 22, 2006 | |
Biobutanol—it just doesn’t roll of the tongue as nicely as Ethanol–however, it may sit favorably with environmentalists and motorists in the U.S. as an easy alternative to conventional gasoline. Dupont and BP have announced a partnership to develop the new boifuel–with 30% more energy efficiency than ethanol. Hoping to roll out the fuel by the end of 2007, their aim is to make it competitive with a barrel of crude–even when prices as low as $30-$40 a barrel. (When the hell will we ever see those days again?!) From the article,
“Currently, biofuels account for just 2% of all fuel consumption. But biofuels could account for 30% of all fuel consumption by 2020, some sources predict. Dupont and BP estimate the global market for biofuels could reach 87 billion gallons by 2020, up from just under 11 billion gallons today.
One distinct advantage of biobutanol: Cars can use close to 100% of the fuel without making any vehicle modifications, DuPont says. To use that high a concentration of ethanol, car engines have to be modified into something known as a “flex fuel vehicle.”
Sounds like a nice alternative for people not looking to modify their exisiting vehicle. I’m not sure what effect growing sugar beets has on the environment–compared to the stupidity of growing corn for ethanol–but an increased draw in efficiency from any crop is welcome. Watch for it.
Link: A Competitor For Ethanol? via CutOilImports.org
gene haynes said,
how in the world can we convert mass quantities of food-producing land into fuel-producing land without raising food prices?
and if our goal is to strip the ground clean of mulch and chaff just to make fuel, where will tomorrow’s dirt come from?
doing a simple calculation: suppose we didn’t want food prices to go up, so each of us planted beets or corn on our property to supplement existing farm production … even with luck, there is no way any of us could produce enough crop to supply the fuel we use in a single year
suppose we converted every spare arable acre of our nation into fuel-making assets and produced a bumper crop, scientists say at its most efficient conversion rate, it takes 3/4 of a gallon of fuel to put a gallon of ethanol onto the market and into a vehicle … and a more likely conversion rate puts that amount over a gallon of fuel to make one gallon of ethanol
scientists say it takes 1 1/2 gallons of fuel to put a gallon of gasoline into your tank, which means you use 2 1/2 gallons for every gallon burned
either way … gas or ethanol … both are expensive to bring to market, and both have tradeoff costs that are not thoroughly discussed; the ethanol tradeoff is food supply and deforestation while the gasoline tradeoff is hydrocarbon pollution and world squabble
at the end of the day, it makes better sense to downsize our cars while increasing milage standards and pollution standards instead of trying to sell people the idea that ‘cheap, clean-burning ethanol’ is just a cornstalk away
it’s too bad the hysteria of ‘preserving our way of life’ is presently stronger than simple calculation
wwm said,
You also have to weigh the Medical costs of small cars vs large cars. How much fuel is used to treat the 400K annual accident victims each year? Not an insiginficant ammount. Would venture that there are 40 people commuting for each of these. Then there is the lost productivity — for the rest of ones life, also not insignificant. Like the song goes “Every form of refuge has it’s price”
Jan Steinman said,
I agree with Gene that we must cut our overall fuel consumption, and yet, we must start figuring out ways of harvesting sustainable energy for crucial services — or resolve ourselves to a reversion to pre-industrial times.
You can’t conserve yourself out of using up a non-renewable resource! William Stanley Jevons demonstrated 140 years ago that conserving coal ultimately resulted in increased consumption — and look what happened following the conservation efforts of the late ’70′s and early ’80′s.
I’m most optimistic about alternative diesel fuels. A gradual transition to heavy oil fuels (from volatile fuels) will eliminate 97% of passenger vehicles now in service. It is inherently simple — a farmer can grow her own oil crop and process her own fuel for her machinery, whereas DuPont won’t even say how they plan to produce butanol. Even ethanol production is relatively complex compared to expelling oil from seeds.
Howard Odum has shown that complexity and energy are intimately related. As energy declines, so will complexity. So why are we creating more and more complex responses to the coming energy crisis?
ALAN OLUJIDE-POKO said,
There is no perfect situation in life, throughout our journey on mother earth, human beings will always pursue the ideal.Thus,no amount of weight against biofuel energy development, should stop the present drive and initiative to source for a sustainable and renewable fuel energy,we must continue the strive to brake new grounds.This is the only way to stabilise fuel security on the globe.The world must shift from the mono source and over dependence on a single type of fuel(FOSSIL PETROLEUM) to develop other types of feul that will be more environmental friendly.
Kd said,
I was taught that the government pays farmers(subsitidize) to NOT grow on there land for fear that too much product would lower produce costs that no farmer would be about to make a living. So can we have those farmers whose land is sitting idle to grow the plants, whether be corn or whatever else that can be used, to supply what is needed to make this alternative fuel materials?. Please let me know if i was taught wrong or misunderstood what I was told.
Also the reason Ethanol wasnt used earlier on was becuse of the price of production rivaled oil, but now that gas prices are high Ethanol is becoming a better idea because that price would stay closer to a stable level (and we can produce it here and not have to be involved with the oil politics in the rest of the world.)
All and all i think we need to start becoming more self suffient with oil and gas and take our selves out of iffy situations.