When we convert organic matter into fuel, it is called biofuels. We will utilize these fuels as energy source replacement to the current fossil fuels that we are using. The biofuels umbrella includes under its aegis ethanol and derivatives of plants such as sugar cane, as well as vegetable and corn oils. Nonetheless, ethanol products are not all intended to be utilized as a kind of gasoline. Although currently only two percent of ethanol is used as a gasoline substitute currently, but 2025 that figure could be ten percent and thirty percent by 2050 according to The International Energy Agency (IEA).
Studies carreid out by oregaon State University show that biofuels are still not as practical as they could be and certainly not economically viable as yet so we still have a way to go on this. So far, what we have made are biofuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline made from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy for our needed purposes is derived from a certain amount of input energy. No such thing that had been built nor utilized has gained more energy from the output as compared to what was from the necessitated input. What has always been important is the conversion: the end product energy is what is useful for our needs, while the input energy is just the effort it takes to produce the end-product. This is easily shown by the figures of energy efficiency of alternative fuels: Ethanol 0 20%, Biodiesel 69% and gasoline 75% (OSU research). Nevertheless, the study was able to positively tabulate that cellulose-derived ethanol has an even greater efficiency of about 85% as compared to the enormously efficient nuclear energy.
The Chicago Stock Exchange has a grain futures market which is starting to “steal” investment activity away from the oil futures in NY, as investors are definitely expecting better profitability to start coming from biofuels. Indeed, it is predicted by a consensus of analysts that these fuels will be supplying seven percent of the entire world’s transportation fuels by the year 2030. An energy markets analyst had certainly stated that if the government would financially support firms distributing biofuels and constantly promote the use of eco-friendly fuel, the growth in demand for diesel and gasoline may slow down dramatically.
A number of countries are now actively developing a trade in biofuels. 5 billion gallons of ethanol annually. Next to Brazil, the United States, which is the world’s greatest oil-guzzler, is now one of the largest producer of biofuels. Meanwhile the European Union lags way behind with only four million tonnes per year. Now eighty percent of Europe’s biodiesel comes from rapeseed oil with the remaining twenty percent from soybean and a little from palm oil.