Should The Environment Replace Fossil Fuels?

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The great consumption of fossil fuels and the exponential increase in human population have also increase the greenhouse gases on the planet. The depletion and of petroleum and to their harm to the environment, biofuel arise as a promising option to replace fossil fuels in the future. Biofuel are derived from biomass conversion with many different examples such as biogas, biodiesel and bioethanol as the most currently used, and biofuels are considered not to leave a carbon print to the environment since they are considered CO2 neutral (1). The total dependency on fossil fuels such as gasoline, natural gas and petroleum gas makes it too risky in case of future depletion of the “black gold”. The risky part of fossil fuels is that they are not …show more content…
The public demand for petroleum makes it hard for new investors to choose biofuel over the well-known profit industry of petroleum-fuels which not only consist of gasoline and natural gas, but also from its derived coproducts such as lubricants, wax, alkenes, sulfuric acid paraffin wax and many more. (3) The process of creating biofuels is by the process of converting starch from corn, cereal, sugar cane and many other sugar rich biomasses into sugar, fermentation and finally distillation (4). This process was explained in class and also mentioned during the discussion by different group including ours. There are different generations of biofuels which are classified based on the carbon source derivation. The first generation is the carbon source directly extracted from the plant. The second generation is the one obtained from non-food crops but from cellulosic matter, and finally the third generation is the one that derives from aquatic organism such as algae (5). The use production of biofuels yields a positive net energy, with ethanol yielding up to 25% more than its original input and up to 93% for biodiesel more energy. The emissions of green-house in ethanol and biodiesel are reduced up to 12% and 41% respectively (6). The net energy production from both ethanol …show more content…
The problem with the Fossil fuel is the limitation, commercial factors, environmental impact and the brutal green-house emission directly from product as gasoline, natural gas and diesel as the major role players. The production of different generations of biofuel makes them seem like the closest solution to the greener future. The new green alternative to the fossil fuels creates a perspective of new generation of biofuels. However, many barriers have arisen for the many factors related to food production as well as the land use to increase the crop productivity. The increase of food crops can lead to deforestation, alteration of the biodiversity, inappropriate use of land, contamination of the water supplies and the excessive use of fertilizer and pesticides. I also think that USA as one of the major leaders in the world should be the one to produce biofuels and with this the idea for other countries to join in the future. There are different reasons for biofuels to be important in many nations but the major one is to save our planet for future generations. The environmental reasons and the emission of green-house gases are at the top of the list as the more relevant. Just as in the discussion, I found myself in the position to start on the pro side of the subject, but the more I read the more I moved to be neutral for the many big issues and barriers that appear in

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