Biofuels

Solid, liquid, or gas fuel derived from recently dead biological

material, most commonly plants.

FactFact

~Gasoline and diesel are actually ancient biofuels. But they are known as fossil fuels because they are made from decomposed plants and animals that have been buried in the ground for millions of years. Biofuels are similar, except that they're made from plants grown today.

Two Common Strategies

~Grow sugar crops, or starch, and then use yeast fermentation to produce ethanol.

~Grow plants that naturally produce oils such as algae or jatropha. The oils from these plants are chemically processed to produce fuels.

U.S.A.

~Leading producer of corn ethanol (E-85)

Corn E-85

~U.S. produced 4.86 billion gallons in 2006

~The cost for the production of each gallon $1.09

Brazil

~Leading producer of cane ethanol

~Brazil produced 3.96 billion gallons in 2005

~Production cost of $0.86 per gallon

Sugar-Cane Ethanol

The Alternatives

Poplar Trees

~ produce about 70 gallons of fuel per ton of wood

~ altering genetic material may increase the trees ability to capture CO2

http://www.lewis-clark.org/media/images/pl_cotblklvP.jpg

SoybeansSoybeans~Main source of

biodiesel~soybean biodiesel

returns 93% more energy than is used to produce it

~reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 41% compared to fossil fuels

http://www.biotech-weblog.com/50226711/soybeans.jpg

Switch Grass

~Switch grass based ethanol has 94% lower greenhouse gas emission

~Can produce 100 gallons of ethanol per metric ton

~ Tolerant to poor soil, flooding and drought

~Resistant to many pests and disease

Corn-based Ethanol~Corn grain ethanol

returns only 25% more energy then used to produce it

~Reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 12%

Ethanol is the main biofuel in the media right nowthat political candidates and other media friendly

people are saying is a good solution.Its NOT the BEST solution.

• Its driving prices up• To the left is a

Ethanol plant• It is causing

starvation in other countries

• It only reduces greenhouse emissions by 12%

All This Ethanol Is Still Causing CO2 to Be Emitted Into Our

Atmosphere.

Is turning food into fuel as millions starve to death really the ethical answer to our oil

addiction?By Late 2007

~loaf of bread up 12%

~milk is up 29%

~eggs up 36%

~In Italy pasta up 20%

-all within one yearhttp://earth-policy.org/Updates/2008/Update69.htm

And..

~for every 1 gallon of ethanol produced 4.5 gallons of water is needed

There must be another way

•Jatropha curcas

http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/images/jatrophafarming.jpg

   ~Family: Euphorbiaceae- large family of flowering plants with a variety of phytotoxins.·   ~It is a small tree or shrub with smooth gray bark, which exudes whitish colored, watery, latex when cut. ·   ~It has large green to pale-green leaves whose three to five lobes alternate with a spiral phyllotaxis. ~Fruits are produced in winter when the shrub is leafless and the seeds become mature when the capsule changes from green to yellow and the fleshy exocarp dries.

Jatropha curcas ~Grows between 3-5m

in height, which makes it easy for harvesting.

~Originated in Mexico and Central America.

~Drought-resistant perennial, growing well in marginal/poor soil

~Produces seeds for up to 50 years

~Can yield 32-37% oil content depending upon weight

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/biopact3/biopact_jatropha_india_smallholders.jpg 

The Wild ShrubThe Wild Shrub

~Oil can be harvested within two to five years of establishment.

~It burns clean and can be combusted without being refined

~By-products are a good organic fertilizer and oil contains a natural insecticide. http://bigislandfuelcrops.com/images/img_9772.jpg 

The biggest success story of the Jatropha cultivation program The biggest success story of the Jatropha cultivation program is India. With up to 130 million hectares of wasteland, constant is India. With up to 130 million hectares of wasteland, constant battles with drought and shortages of electricity India’s land was battles with drought and shortages of electricity India’s land was perfect for jatropha farming. perfect for jatropha farming. Jatropha has been held up as a reliable source of income for India’s poor rural farmers, providing energy self-sufficiency, while reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. China is claiming to have 2 million hectares of jatropha under cultivation, and announced plans to plant an additional 11 million across its southern states by 2010. Burma, the Philippines, and several African countries have initiated large-scale plantations of their own. 

The largest reason for the encouragement of jatropha as a biofuel is the fact that it is not edible. The World Bank reports that for each 1 percent rise in food prices, caloric intake among the poor drops 0.5 percent. If this continues the worlds hunger population would climb to 1.2 billion by 2025. We need to stop feeding our cars and start feeding ourselves!

The Success Story

References

• http://www.evworld.com/images/jatropha_hands.jpg 

• http://bigislandfuelcrops.com/images/img_9772.jpg 

• http://www.sundancechannel.com/blogs/treehugger

• http://earth-policy.org/Updates/2008/Update69.htm

• http://www.lewis-clark.org/media/images/pl_cotblklvP.jpg

• http://www.biotech-weblog.com/50226711/soybeans.jpg

• http://www.wsu.edu/~lohr/wcl/paviHM.JPG

• http://chnm.gmu.edu/resources/essays/images/EvolutionIntelligentDesignClimateChange/corn_diversity.jpg

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuels