Title : The False Promise of Biofuels
*Author: David Biello
A:
B:
About 40% of America's corn crop went towards ethanol production last year, which signals the end of this boondoggle. Arable land of course should be used to grow food, not fuel. Beillo quotes J. Craig Venter, who calculates that replacing all of our transportation fuel with corn ethanol would require a farm three times the size of the continental U.S. Ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks is just a flat out failure. You can do it, but the process is slow, expensive and thus will never scale unless some miraculous breakthrough is made. As for algae, it's worth quoting Venter again.
C:
Running a gasoline engine for an hour puts about the same amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, no matter whether the fuel is 0% alcohol, 10% alcohol, or 85% alcohol. It’s the same story for airplane engines and ships and any other internal combustion engines.Making transportation fuels from plant material puts more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than making them from oil. (Making those fuels from tar sands or shale also puts more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.) If we want to lessen the degree to which our economy creates global warming, then increasing our use of biofuels or “unconventional oil” for transportation is not going to help. Instead, we have to cut the rate at which transportation puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Better efficiency helps, but not much. Commercial transportation is already pushing practical limits to efficiency.
So What?
Lots of energy is required to distill ethanol from the soup of water and yeast in which it has been fermented.
Say Who?
David Biello
What If?
Companies are investing ethanol from sugarcane. Sugarcane delivers more energy and is easier to grow and has existing production. As alternative, scientists opted to work with algae.
This Remind Me Of?
Biggest challenge may be the fact that producing hydrocarbons is algae's defense against long periods without sun to engineer them to respond to stress yet grow quickly
*Author: David Biello
A:
- Biofuel technology not living up to expectations may seem odd, given rapid expansion in recent years of corn ethanol
- U.S production went from 50 million gallons to 13 billion from 1979 to 2010.
- Ethanol yields little net savings in CO2 emissions. Making those 13 billion gallons consumed 40% of nation's corn crop.
- Advanced biofuels made with different processes promised to remedy flaws.
- Ethanol can be brewed from sugar derived from husks of stalks of corn plants rather than the kernel.
- Plant parts contain cellulose, which isn't used by humans and would not affect food prices.
- Liquid fuel can be harvested from algae.
- None of these advanced biofuels are working at commercially meaningful scales today.
- Goal seems too distant.
- Corn ethanol only biofuel to reach commercial scale in the U.S thanks to subsidies.
- Fermentation is the core technology for making ethanol from corn.
- Corn ethanol is not energy efficient and is not carbon neutral
- A gallon of ethanol supplies a vehicle only 2/3 of energy in a gallon of gasoline
- Energy inputs cost money
- Corn ethanol may never compete on price with gasoline.
- Research showed that ethanol would only replace 18% of gasoline consumption
- Replacing all fuels with corn ethanol would require farm three times size of continental U.S
- Energy that can be harvested from waste cellulose is potentially huge.
- It can generate 1.4 billion tons of cellulosic material, displacing 30% of transportation fuel
- Finding way to efficiently break down plant's cell walls is central challenge.
- Inspiration comes from cows crushing grass and leaf cutter ants.
- Another approach is to use family of enzymes
- Approach towards using cellulose imposes a significant environmental and agricultural burden.
- Corn stover is left on farmland after harvest, where it improves soil fertility. Balling it up and using it might accel soil degradation and rendering the soil incapable of growing crops.
- Algae can harness 3% of incoming sunlight to make plant matter.
- Algae can be grown in the desert instead of on arable land, nourished with undrinkable water, so approach doesn't displace food. Process promises 4,270 gallons of oil per acre depending on conditions
- Algae companies try to overcome obstacles by changing genetic code of microorganisms.
- Researchers started by tweaking the genes of E. Coli
- Institutes have turned E coli into an efficient biological factory that converts sunlight, CO2 and water into hydrocarbons like biodiesel.
- Engineered microorganisms may find it hard to produce hydrocarbons at volume or price that can compete with fossil oil.
- Viability will depend on cost of its food.
- Breakthroughs remain possible and scientific quest for a better biofuel continues
- Investors and politicians might be wise not to stake much money on a high-risk bet.
- Nations could electrify transportation to reduce fossil-fuel use
- Corn and sugarcane provide bulk of any alternative to oil, straining agricultural system
B:
About 40% of America's corn crop went towards ethanol production last year, which signals the end of this boondoggle. Arable land of course should be used to grow food, not fuel. Beillo quotes J. Craig Venter, who calculates that replacing all of our transportation fuel with corn ethanol would require a farm three times the size of the continental U.S. Ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks is just a flat out failure. You can do it, but the process is slow, expensive and thus will never scale unless some miraculous breakthrough is made. As for algae, it's worth quoting Venter again.
C:
Running a gasoline engine for an hour puts about the same amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, no matter whether the fuel is 0% alcohol, 10% alcohol, or 85% alcohol. It’s the same story for airplane engines and ships and any other internal combustion engines.Making transportation fuels from plant material puts more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than making them from oil. (Making those fuels from tar sands or shale also puts more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.) If we want to lessen the degree to which our economy creates global warming, then increasing our use of biofuels or “unconventional oil” for transportation is not going to help. Instead, we have to cut the rate at which transportation puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Better efficiency helps, but not much. Commercial transportation is already pushing practical limits to efficiency.
So What?
Lots of energy is required to distill ethanol from the soup of water and yeast in which it has been fermented.
Say Who?
David Biello
What If?
Companies are investing ethanol from sugarcane. Sugarcane delivers more energy and is easier to grow and has existing production. As alternative, scientists opted to work with algae.
This Remind Me Of?
Biggest challenge may be the fact that producing hydrocarbons is algae's defense against long periods without sun to engineer them to respond to stress yet grow quickly