The Use of Biofuels

Third of all, changing jungles to corn plantations or the Amazon rainforest into a wheat farm would take centuries to not only grow back debts in carbon, but additionally, leads to ever more land clearing. For example, demand for biofuel (ethanol) in the United States has made farmers plant more corn and less soy, causing the originally stable value of soy to skyrocket and in turn, trigger farmers to destroy even more natural land to plant their “treasured soy”. What’s more is that since a soy field contains much less carbon in comparison to say, an Amazon rainforest, that means the original greenhouse benefit of growing the natural ethanol is completely destroyed.

Moreover, the economic drawbacks of this method of energy are evident. Due to unambiguous concerns with biofuel, as demand for it increases, food prices are too. Competition from farmers or other agriculturists for productive lands to grow the essential corn and wheat has caused food prices to rise high enough to force the lesser third-world countries of the earth into malnourishment. Even in Mexico, for example, influenced through demand for corn and the production of ethanol, has caused extreme inflation in certain types of food in that area; increasing the ordinarily cost of a tortilla (a principal food) by over 50%.

Besides that, as research from USDA [National Agricultural Statistics Service] proves, in the past few years, because of demand for alternative fuels (such as biodiesel), the price of corn has more or less tripled. In spite of this, what’s even more astonishing is that a two kilogram bag of rice, normally what you would be able to find at a local supermarket (ranging on the average of $10 CAD) now costs about half of the daily revenue a poor home in Bangladesh makes. Whatever the case, biofuel is causing a lot more than just minor “rises in food prices”.

In conclusion, we should continue to look into different options to moderate our use on fuel, but unfortunately, due to the diverse concerns on biofuel, it looks like so far, ethanol is “out of order” as an alternative. Nonetheless, outstanding progress is still being made, and in the name of practicality, the idea of naturally produced fuel may still prove to be a potentially possible option, that is, with a lot of work. Like everything in the world today, at some point in time, I predict that fossil fuels will likely run out. However, it’s up to all of us to take hold of the potential [of naturally produced fuel] and with research and time, protect not only just our natural resources, but aid in the production of more environmentally-friendly, and sustainable energy.