Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Biofuels: Is There Anything There?
u
.
Introduction
My
first introduction to the idea of biofuels came when
I met the Nobel Laureate chemist, Melvin Calvin, in the
late
for the discovery
of how photosynthesis worked). It was the time of the
Arab oil embargo and he had a dream of what he called
growing oil. He had found a plant in the Amazon that
produced oil that could directly substitute for diesel fuel,
and was working on improving the output of a different
plant that could grow in the temperate zone, and on
poor ground. He wanted, through genetic engineering,
to greatly increase its natural production of an oil-like
substance. He did not think using food crops for energy
systems was a good idea because of population growth.
We would need all the food we could get. Mel retired in
s (his prize was awarded in
(continuing to work as do most of us) and died
before he succeeded. The science community is still
trying to bring Mel Calvin
s vision to life.
Today, in the United States biofuels means ethanol
from corn, while in Brazil it is ethanol from sugarcane
(the European Union has an ethanol program too, and
I will come back to it). After looking in some detail at
the US program, I confess that I have become a biofuels
skeptic. Most of what one hears about corn as a source
of
'
fuel
ethanol
that
saves
energy
and reduces
 
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