Strata Gas & Oil Issues: Advantages and Disadvantages of Bioethanol. Part 3
One cannot call the economy of this country dependant on oil. By growing and processing sugar cane Brazil is totally self-sufficient in fuel and electricity. It is undoubtedly optimistic, but even in this rosy picture there are a few negative aspects. The Brazilians cut down Amazon rainforests for new areas for plantation. One can call it a strange and short-sighted politics, and if called as it is – true idiotism. How can we and they live without the lungs of the planet?
Sugar cane in Brazil is grown by thousands of private farms. This causes various problems. Besides ethanol sugar is made from sugar cane. That’s why when in 1980s the cost of sugar increased significantly the production of ethanol was reduced to such a degree that people didn’t have enough of it to fill their cars. Nowadays the government monitors the situation and in 2007 it invested $25 million into the development of new technologies. In the USA this figure reaches $385 million.
The similar situation is in the USA. President Bush has approved the program “20 for 10” which is to help decrease the consumption of petrol by 20% by 2017. How? Ethanol, of course. By 2017 it is planned that the production of ethanol will have increased by 30 billion liters. During the recent years the investments into research reached $12 billion. And that’s just the beginning.
The USA produces a lot of ethanol, but still less than Brazil. But here it is produced not from sugar cane (it doesn’t grow in the states) but from corn. This variant is less effective, and thus the cost of the American ethanol is higher than that of the Brazilian. Nevertheless, the program is being promoted in a number of states and the governor of the “corn” state Illinois Barack Obama is no exception. New requirements towards the petrol mixture are being introduced: it must contain 10% of ethanol (such a proportion is harmless for traditional engines).
In order to fill a car with a fuel with more than 10% of ethanol you have make special adjustments to the engine. “The brain” of the car has to learn to specify the concentration of ethanol in the mixture and turn on the appropriate modes. As ethanol contains water, fuel line needs modernization. Moreover, it the car is used in the cold conditions the fuel has to be heated before starting the engine.
Will the Americans reach their goals? What is the future of this bioethanol affair? At the moment the answers to these questions are still vague. One thing is obvious, though – the total passage towards ethanol engines is impossible. If we assume that the effectiveness of the reprocessing process is 100%. But in order to convert the states from oil to ethanol we’ll have to cover 75% of the Earth’s surface with the appropriate crops. Roughly speaking even if we manage to cover the Moon with crops it won’t be enough.
Mass cultivation of crops for ethanol production will inevitably affect agriculture. Farmers are no fools – if the demand on corn is high they will grow it everywhere. And who will think about millions of the starving? That’s why many scientists rail at growing biofuel when some people have nothing to eat.
Ethanol issue is inevitably connected to big politics. In the photo you can the US president George Bush and the president of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are happy about the end of the next step of negotiations.
Though, any criticism should be accepted with a sound share of optimism. Of their own record biofuel programs are reasonable and with a decent realization they can bring much use. It should be also mentioned that ubiquitous introduction of ethanol will affect the world economy. And, of course, there will be people who’s interest suffer. Any way you slice it, the introduction of biofuel is not only a scientific and economic issue. It is more a question of big politics.
Strata Gas & Oil Issues: Advantages and Disadvantages of Bioethanol. Part 2
Related Posts...
- Strata Gas & Oil Issues: Advantages and Disadvantages of Bioethanol. Part 2
- How ABS Works: ABS Dynamics. Part 1
- Strata Gas & Oil Issues: Advantages and Disadvantages of Bioethanol. Part 1
