Biofuels - The dangers of using Ethanol and other Bio-Fuels to power vehicles

Biofuels - The Dangers of using ethanol as fuel for vehicles

Biofuels - The dangers of using Ethanol and other Bio-Fuels to power vehicles. by K D Mains

Biofuels - The dangers of using Ethanol and other Bio-Fuels to power vehicles.

I remember thinking to myself when I first heard about the use of Bio-Fuels as the fuel used to power car engines that if you we're to look at the bigger picture using Biofuels for this purpose may prove to be one of the worst ideas members of mankind ever had.

I always had a bit of a problem getting my head around the thought of thousands of acres of tobacco fields around the world being used by the tobacco industry whilst there are people starving in other parts of the world through lack of food or decent land to grow any food crops.

As soon as I heard that there was going to be a concerted effort to switch from Petroleum based fuel products to Plant based fuel an inner wave of sadness welled up inside me as I considered the consequences of powering cars using plant based fuels made from products that are also used in the food industry.

I told my partner about my concerns explaining that I thought it was a bad idea to use things like corn or wheat to make fuel on a vast scale. Just think about it if the fuel companies are able to bid against the food companies for the supplies of the raw products then the food industry will be affected by the fuel industry. It doesn't take a genius to work out that if someone is willing to pay the price to fill their car with this fuel the price of food products even things as simple as a loaf of bread would be affected by this.

I wrote this article in Jan 2008 the 9 th of January to be precise after having thought about this subject on and off for the past couple of weeks since I heard on the TV that indeed already my worries and concerns about the problems relating to Bio fuels had started to happen & have an impact on the prices of food products on the supermarket shelves, just as I thought it would, with recent price rises being blamed on the increased use of Bio fuels.

This has lead me to pose a question given that the percentage increase in biofuels usage has already affected the price of things like Bread which I introduce as an example that is affected and whose market percentage now has to compete with the bio fuel market usage.

Q: What percentage of the fuel market would need to use Bio-fuels for there to actually be no raw materials available for use in the food industry to make bread?

Now this could of course all be capped with the right legislation in place but it really is a very scary thought to think that fueling cars using Biofuels affects the price of as an important a thing as a loaf of bread.

Ethanol is the most common biofuel worldwide. This alcohol fuel is produced by fermentation of sugars derived from wheat, corn, sugar cane and sugar beet. What if the controls in this industry we're not put in place and market demand really did dictate that filling a car fuel tank could stop loaves of bread being made and not just the raising of the actual price of loaves of bread.

Quite a dilemma faces the human race when it comes to this subject as it seems to me a complete rethink is needed. Though not an immediate solution I think it would be better all round to throw the antiquated engine design that relies on combustible fuels out of the widow and redesign a modern more sustainable planet and man friendly engine to power our vehicles. The long term complications of Biofuels and the fuel industry competing against the food industry when it comes to buying the raw materials does not bare thinking bout.

We started the New Year in the UK with the percentage rise in use of Biofuels in places around the World already affecting the price of food on the supermarket shelves. Surely this should be an early warning sign to reconsider the direction things are going and rethink the whole approach to fuel to power our vehicles. I wonder what percentage rise in Biofuel use it will take to make the cheapest loaf of Bread reach £2. I estimate £2 bread in the UK would take a percentage use in Biofuels of at a guess let's say 30 % and that that could happen let's guess at say 2012.

We will see how close my rough estimates are come 2012 bear in mind though I only hazarded a guess at the percentages and timing I didn't use exact figures. Those figures are findable and track able though. It doesn't take a genius to research the things needed to find out how these things are mapping out.

You only need to find the crops that make Ethanol and the crops that are required for certain food products and then track who is able to buy and use these raw materials and then track the price changes in the ranges of products that are involved. There are a lot more products involved than direct to human edible products that have to be considered as well. For example if eggs are to have yellow yokes the chickens need to be fed corn to.

The scariest thing though is that there is presently a wave, backed by legislation in some places, of a change to Bio-Fuels as a more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels like petroleum based products. People are being swept along with the tide of change heightening that percentage of Bio fuel usage and cost of Bread and other food products as they do so. I wonder if this wave will continue the way it is going as if this wave is as unstoppable as it presently seems the future price of food and the cost of living will rise dramatically.

How can the Biofuel industry hope to remain a sustainable industry when as demand increases the use of plant based products that we're destined for the food industry will be replaced by the demands of the fuel industry as market demands dictate the way of things?

Biofuels - The dangers of using Ethanol and other Bio-Fuels to power vehicles.

Article by K D Mains

Please note the views above are my own personal perceptions which we're subsequently backed up by things I saw on TV programs aired in the UK which of course therefore makes the information on the price changes on British supermarket shelves hearsay and not in my case based in any actual scientific research other than remembering the information broadcast by others.