I don't know what is well-known and what is rather ignored about biofuel.. I just read an interesting article today, that left a bitter after taste. It basically said that this year in the US, for the first time, corn farmers sold more corn to the ethanol industry (128 million tons of corn) than was used as animal food (127 million tons) or in the food industry (35 million tons). Also, people tend to forget that in order to produce non-polluting bio fuel, fossil fuels are used in the procedure, which in total doesn't make biofuel really 'green'. I have found these two articles that inform a bit about the issue, here and here.
One solution would be to produce biofuel exclusively from organic material that can't be used for food. Here's an article talking about that problematic: Solving the Biofuels vs. Food Problem
What do you think? Would you rather we'd use the corn to feed the hungry (is it really possible, taking the shipping distances into account?), or are you more concerned about the fuel prices?
Well, Biofuel being a full energy alternative is impractical because so much corn would be needed to fuel our world. Im not an environmentalist, but Solar, Wind and Hydroelectric power seam way more practical to power your world for the future generation. Problem is, the US is in so much debt and can't afford to run their own programs without borrowing money, It seams that China will be the first to attempt such action. If they succeed and cut their dependence on foreign oil, China will dominate the US.
As of right now "green" energy and fuel is really expensive to produce, that's why the governments stray away from it.
Well, most bio fuels are currently more expensive than fossil fuel, but I think it's not the case for corn-made ethanol for example, which is why the government does have an interest in subventioning it's production. Negative feedback is that the prices for the corn raise for those who eat it.
Woops, I said 'to power your world' I ment OUR world XD
Well Corn is not the only source of biofuel. Seaweed (or algae)is also very effective, costs less and pollutes less. Also Seaweed is easy to grow, and it is produced faster than corn making it a much more effective way of biofuel .
Bio fuel itself is not polluting or does very little polluting at the most but the procedure I agree is not green. I prefer we go with something like hydrogen cells but its hell of a lot more expensive to process it into something that can be used as fuel. I think to solve the fuel prices also is to get the freaking lobbyist out of wall street and make gas and oil a utility and not a private enterprise.
@destruction101 I agree, algae are probably better in that aspect, much better. And there are also other sources; like in the third link I posted in the OP, or I have even heard that on watermelon fields, a certain percentage lies around anyway (for whatever reason, maybe they're half-rotten or so?), and would be a good source for a certain amount of biofuel too. It isn't eaten anyway.
@TheAtheist Do you mean making gas and oil a public business/government related instead of a private corporation?
What I still would want to know is, let's say the US doesn't use any corn at all for ethanol. Can the US use all that corn otherwise, for animal/human food or will there be a surplus? And if there is a surplus, can it be shipped across the atlantic without significant loss?
