BioFuel An Energy Crisis Solution Or New Disaster?

In these past 2 years, the world food price become out of control. Some of important food such as canes, soy, corns and cooking oil become more and more out of hand.

Why? As far as we knew, the harvests were good so the stocks must be abundant. What’s really happening here?

With fossil fuel has broke its own record, increased up to US $130/ barrel and the “hotter” Global warming issues, there’s emergency needs for every countries to find cheaper and greener energy alternatives. Bio fuel is considered to be the “one” everyone is looking for, which is far cheaper and produce less CO2.

Not surprisingly if most developed countries such as USA, Europe, North America have invested more and more money on Bio fuel from US$38 milliard in 2005 up to US$100 Milliard on 2010.

Is Bio fuel the real solution? Nah here is the ugly parts

Bio fuel is made from plants, both food and edible crops. Bio fuel crops include corn, soybeans, rapeseed (canola oil) sugarcane, palm trees (palm oil) and cassava, as well as experimental "second generation" crops such as switch grass, jatropha/ Jarak, giant reed, hemp, and algae. USA using corns to produce maize-ethanol ( a.k.a vodka minus H2O) Brazil using sugar canes to produce ethanol and Europeans countries using seeds ( mainly rapeseeds) mixed with palm oil (a.k.a cooking oil), imported from Malaysia and Indonesia, to produce bio-diesel.

Increased demand for bio-fuels crops is causing fundamental changes to agricultural pattern where farmers starts to switch their crops to bio fuels’ crops rather than others to gain more benefits, and on the other hand, the diverting increasing amount of basic food crops (corns, soybeans, rapeseeds) from farm animal feeds (which produce dairy products, eggs, meats) to bio fuel cause the costs of animal feed being pushed up. Beside, bio fuels require massive amounts of nitrogen fertilizers to produce, and the price of fertilizer rose by more than 200% in 2007 alone. Nitrogen fertilizers are largely made from natural gas. Bio fuel are pushing up the cost of all foods that require fertilizers and farm made products , including rice, wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, eggs, meats and dairy products.

Competition between crops for bio fuel rather then for food has caused massive decrement on world food supply. FAO has declared global food prices had jumped up to 40% in 2007 and warned that 82 countries are facing food emergencies (a.k.a starvation) because cereal stocks are at an all-time low.

Bio fuels frenzies also cause environmental damage the two great world sponge of CO2. The increasing speed of deforestation of tropical forests in mostly in Asia countries (2.8 million hectare/year) for oil palm plantation has caused ecosystem damage. And the increasing acidity of oceans due to pollution has caused their losing ability to absorb CO2.

No wonder the new studies show that Bio fuel isn’t solution after all but another disaster which make global warming even worse by destroying world lungs.

Is bio fuel must be banned? Maybe not if the second experimental generations (mentioned above) actually work.

But, Scientist, why don’t make used of unlimited solar source instead? Is the invention of using solar energy has already hit the wall or has it become out of fashion? Please answer me….