Introduction2
The opportunities and challenges of the biofuel industry..3
The demand of farm and food products by biofuel4
Socio-political and economic factors of biofuel4
Technological impact of biofuel5
Legal and regulatory factors surrounding the development of biofuels6
The ethical debate surrounding biofuels6
Food security in a growing world population7
The future of biofuels in Canada8
Conclusion..8
Work cited..9
Biofuel
Introduction
The change in preference on the type of fuel needed across the globe has been influenced by the need to have enough fuel to sustain its demand. The global supply may not be enough to sustain the worldwide demand. Fuel prices have been on the increase recently. Additionally, its availability has been questioned as oil producing nations in the Middle East cite reduction in the level of production. For this reason, there have increased need to develop more ways that the demand of fuel could be sustained (Caye et.al 56)
The production of biofuel has risen over the years. Its production is influenced by the need to have fuel security and less toxic fuel options. Biofuel is generated from living organisms. It involves conversion of biomass to convenient energy. Regardless of the convenient nature of biofuel, queries have been developed to challenge its global effectiveness and appropriateness. Do the merits of biofuel surpass its demerits?
The global and American biofuel situation
The need to increase production of biofuel led to the creation of IEA Bioenergy in 1978 (Gehlhar 79). The body was a creation of the OECD International Energy Agency with the objective improving the international cooperation on biofuel research, deployment and development. Since its creation countries across the globe have increased their consumption and development of biofuel. To date, the global leaders of biofuel use and consumption are the United States and Brazil. Germany, Sweden and France are great developer of biofuel. Russia has 22% of world’s forests (Gehlhar 44). This makes the nation a massive biomass supplier. The road transport in the U.K consumes 1,440 million litres of biofuel. A full transition from fossil fuel to biofuel consumption on the entire transportation system in the U.K is expected by 2020 (Gehlhar 63).
The same trend is emulated in the United States. In the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was developed. This is a federal program that requires all fuel sold in the United States contain a minimum level of biofuel (Gehlhar 56). Each year, the program requires that the amount of renewable fuel transported be increased. From the trend, it is expected that by the 2022 the total quantity of renewable fuel in the United States would reach 36 billion gallons (Gehlhar 61).
The opportunities and challenges of the biofuel industry
One major opportunity of the industry is the availability of renewable sources of fuel. This is different from fossil fuel which is concentrated in specific regions. This makes it easy for suppliers to control the price of the commodity. Renewable fuel on the other hand provides a cheaper fuel option. The fuel can be obtained from readily available material with massive biomass. This has increased the participation of numerous industries in the quest to produce biofuel. In addition, biofuel offers a solution to the increasing fuel prices. This is because its production requires less financial resources. Claudio is of the assumption that countries with a great consumption rate of biofuel save a lot financial resources used for the purchase of fuel (277).
Regardless of these opportunities, numerous challenges face the industry. One major challenge is the fact that continuous consumption of organic sources may lead to their depletion. For this reason, as encroachment of organic and water sources increase; scarcity of the resources is expected. In addition, scarcity of the resources may massively lead to increase of their prices. Consequently, production of biofuel may be an expensive venture.
The demand of farm and food products by biofuel
As the need to develop biofuel escalates, Fogel asserts that the demand for farm products has rapidly increased (122). Prior to the need to have an alternative source of energy, farm products were solely used for human and animal consumption purposes. The quantity of farm products was enough to sustain the demand required for human consumption. This was depicted by low food prices in retail stores and restaurants. This trend has, however, changed with the increasing demand of sources of biofuel. The argument may be justified by analyzing the price of farm and food products. Consumption competition between biofuel production and human consumption has minimized the ability of farm products to sustain the demand (Fogel 132).
The increased global food shortage can be attributed to the increase in demand of biofuel. For instance, in Asia and Africa vast tracts of land are used to grow sweet sorghum with the objective of increasing production of biofuel. In the same continents, annual deaths caused by food shortages increase significantly. This justifies the assertion that the development of biofuel has increased the competition to acquire food and farm products (Kim, Seungdo & Dale 962).
Socio-political and economic factors of biofuel
There is the increased preferences that biofuel may offer a solution to the imminent energy crisis. From a social perspective, the acceptance of the trend has been influenced by the continuous education and publicity on the importance and merits of biofuel. However, numerous environmental activists have created opposing arguments citing the negative effects of biofuel production. Mitchell asserts that the wealthy biofuel industry has attracted numerous stakeholders who influence the social perception (97). The author further points out that federal government support biofuel initiatives since it provides alternative energy options that may generate income (Mitchell 97).
Economic factors have played a major role in influencing the direction of the biofuel industry. Rodrigo is of the assumption that with an increase in demand of biofuel has increased investment ventures in the industry (425). Consequently, the increasing oil prices have also increased the need to develop biofuel initiatives. From an economic perspective, biofuel are cheaper to access and recycled. This is different from fossil fuel which is expensive and non-renewable. The continuous consumption of biofuel would enable economization of resources that may be used for the access of fossil fuel.
Technological impact of biofuel
The traditional approaches of biofuel development were inefficient and less productive. Farmers would decompose biomass and obtain biofuel. This would take many days and the amount of developed energy was minimal. However, at the time the needed amount of biofuel did no demand the use of advanced ways of production. An increase in the demand of biofuel led to the increase in the need to have advanced methods of biofuel production. The modern day biofuel industry has ventured into large scale production of fuel. This requires technological advances and approaches. Consequently, numerous advances have been made to increase the efficiency of biofuel production.
In Brazil, decomposition of biomass is done in large scale. This requires massive resources used in the decomposition process. Modern technology increased level of production and minimize the time production time. For instance, the cellulose ethanol commercialization was developed. The process is based on developing methods that turn organic matter containing cellulose into fuel. The number of plants using the technology has increased significantly. Mitchell is of the assumption that the availability of technologies has lowered the cost of industrial production of biofuel (47). In addition, the level of production is also increased.
Legal and regulatory factors surrounding the development of biofuels
The growth of the biofuel industry created the prompt to develop policies and relation to govern the industry. This is based on that the economic value of the industry may attract illegal traders and investors. In addition, the potential of the industry has led to the creation of legislations that promote the development of this form of fuel. For instance, the United States developed Energy Policy Act of 2005 clause that require fuel traded in the United States contain a minimum amount of biofuel. This has increased the development of biofuel in the country. Claudio asserts the creation of policies promoting the industry has increased its level of development (277).
Apart from the policies that promote the industry, regulations have been created to manage the access and consumption of biofuel sources. For instance, the increase encroachment of the Amazon forest in Brazil initiated the need to have laws that limit access of the natural resources. Similar laws have been enacted in different countries to prevent biofuel developers from encroaching natural resources. Mitchell (94) points out that the need to develop such laws is created by the increase in demand of biofuel and biomass sources.
The ethical debate surrounding biofuels
The ethical is initiated by environmentalists who have a negative perception of development of biofuel. However, their preference may be justified considering the level of encroachment natural resources face from biofuel developers. In an argument by Demirbas, development of biofuel has significantly increased the level of encroachment of natural resources (110). For example, the disappearing rainforest in Brazil can be attributed to continuous encroachment by companies in search for organic matter. Environmental activist in the country have faulted the government of creating laws that promote encroachment of natural resources.
The other ethical argument is based on the issue on food security. The high demand for farm products for biofuel development has minimized the supply of food for human consumption. This has led to high food prices and starvation in other areas. This creates the need to question the appropriateness of biofuel development. In addition, the process depletes water resources. The development of biofuel is done at the expense of humanity. This raises the ethical dilemma that the economic value of the industry has overshadowed the need to save humanity and natural resources (Mitchell 77)
Food security in a growing world population
The growth of the global population creates an accurate assumption that food security would be a huge problem. This is based on that the natural environment has lost its viability of produce food. This is based on that encroachment on natural resources such as water catchment areas and water resources has increased. The need to develop biofuel has increased the demand of natural resources such as organic matter and water resources. This need continues to increase the level of food insecurity. Fargione et.al points out that biofuel development effects on the natural environment minimize the ability of sustainable growth of food (1236).
The completion between food consumption and biofuel has also increased the level of food insecurity. Numerous countries use farm products for the production of biofuel at the expense of human consumption. Consequently, the prices of food products have escalated significantly due to the increased demand. From this argument one may point out that, the level of demand of biofuel increase the level of food security.
The future of biofuels in Canada
Biofuel development in Canada is influenced by the availability of vast land to grow organic crops (Fisher Par, 2. In addition, the country the country has biomass in form of forest that energy may be obtained. However, the main source of biofuel in the future in Canada is energy crops. The country also uses traditional corn-based ethanol, canola biodiesel and animal residues. Fisher asserts that municipal waste, cellulose ethanol and forest biomass also secure the future of biofuel development in Canada (Par 4). From this information, one may point out that the level of biofuel development in Canada is similar to the global leader in the industry.
Conclusion
Works Cited
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Demirbas, Ayhan. Political, economic and environmental impacts of biofuels: A review. Applied Energy, 86, 2009, S108–S117.
Fargione, Joseph., Jason, Hill., David, Tilman., Stephen, Polasky., & Peter Hawthorne. Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt. Science, 319, 2008, (5867): 1235–1238.
Fisher, Daniela. Biofuels: fuelling growth and innovation in Canada. June 7, 2013. Web. <http://biotechnologyfocus.ca/biofuels-fueling-growth-and-innovation-in-canada/>
Fogel, Robert. The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010. Print.
Gehlhar, Mark. Effects of Increased Biofuels on the U.S. Economy in 2022. New York: DIANE Publishing. 2011. Print.
Kim, Hyungtae., Seungdo, Kim., & Dale, Bruce. "Biofuels, Land Use Change, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Some Unexplored Variables". Environmental Science, 43, 2009, (3): 961–967.
Mitchell, Donald. Biofuels in Africa: Opportunities, Prospects, and Challenges. Washington, D.C: The World Bank. 2010. Print.
Rodrigo, Teixeira. Energy-efficient extraction of fuel and chemical feed stocks from algae. Green Chemistry, 14, 2012, (2): 419–427.
