Alternative Energy - Vegetable Based Biofuels

This is a very environmentally friendly fuel, made from natural vegetable oils such as soybean, canola, and animal fat that produces anywhere between 40 and 80 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels. And it generates a whopping 90 percent more energy than it takes to produce it. But there are still problems with the biodiesel industry. Since its produced from food crops, it has caused inflation in agricultural products in a time when all food costs are climbing. And Europe's demand for biodiesel is to blame for a group of Southeast Asian farmers who burned down acres of rainforest and replaced them with palm plantations, which released a huge amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in the name of a biofuel meant to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. And production of biodiesel is still limited... only 250 million gallons were produced in 2006, a number that's not growing quickly. And demand for biodiesel is driving up prices for foods like vegetable oil, which can cause problems for poor countries who need it for food purposes. Biodiesel is one of the biofuels that is fueling the global “food vs fuel” debate about whether things like vegetable oil should be used to solve the energy crisis as an alternate fuel or used as food to feed hungry people first. Biodisel is a clean burning alternative fuel that does not take a lot of energy to produce... we just need to produce more of it so that there is enough to go around to satisfy both sides of the “food vs fuel” controversy. For more information on this exciting new fuel source, check out www.biodiesel.org. I'm Elizabeth Chambers. Check back here for more eco friendly news and tips, right here on LivingGreenChannel.Com.

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[melisssawat]

biofuel is made from waste as well. it's not only food crops it can be all the shit you though in your garbage like corn husks, egg shells, orange peels, grease from burgers and bacon ect. DONT BE SO SCARED, this is our lives we are talking about. We need to make a change for our children and our future not only with greener living, but with education and health care and societies values. Look at who we idolize. People have been putting "MONEY" before life for to long.

[davedavedaveannoy1]

@81lonesoul I mean wind, its a great Idea, but we shouldn't invest everything in it, there is massive potential in biomass resources like we have discussed and many areas of the United States have exploitable hotspots for hydrothermal energy. But your right, we need to distill more ethanol, but not from sources like corn (which just increase food prices) we need to target algae and sugercane to make bio based energy practical. But anaerobic digestion is an ingenious concept and everyone should

[81lonesoul]

@davedavedaveannoy1 huh... well, i don't know where you're from, but wind.... well, it may work, but no so great. Solar wouldn't even be that good. i'm interested in distilling ethanol, and recently gained interest in anaerobic digestion. which is basically composting in an air free environment. in stead of letting your compost sit, and emit methane gas into the atmosphere, your capture it, and can use it to cook with, or even to run a vehicle! :) then what's left, you use as compost!

[davedavedaveannoy1]

@81lonesoul Lol, yeah, nice to know there is someone out there with a sense of efficiency and creativity, everyone seems to believe wind power will save us.

[81lonesoul]

@davedavedaveannoy1 lol, wow... looks like i found someone LIKE MINDED!!! yeah, when you said about the whole recycling people thing, i immediately thought of the movie WATER WORLD. it's kinda disgusting, and people probably WON'T ever actually DO IT, unless some disaster like that actually happens, and people have NO CHOICE. till then though, maybe people will look at road killed animals in a different light. :)

[davedavedaveannoy1]

@81lonesoul We need more idealists like you in society, not these pussy ethical people. As long as it does not violate human and constitutional rights or harms anyone in any way we should be exploiting it for energy. It is however the families decision if their recently deceased relative is used in that way.

[81lonesoul]

@davedavedaveannoy1 -- also, think about human waste... :) yep, we PAY wish EACH flush of the toilet, and the sewer treatment plants REAP the benefits of OUR waste. might sound gross, but if you're cool with anaerobically composting pig, chicken,horse, donkey, or cow crap, what's any different about OURS? we can produce methane from our OWN waste, and use what's left for fertilizer!

[81lonesoul]

@davedavedaveannoy1--- the garbage "dumps" already do that, yet we PAY for them to take our trash... as for the dead people thing. what do you THINK cemeteries ARE? can you say FUTURE OIL RESERVES? supposedly oil fields are where dead dinosaurs got burried from a volcano blast, or a metior hit, or whatever the story is... i thought about cemeteries a long time ago, as MAN made future oil reserves, oh, but wait you have to PAY them to put you there... funny how we get SCREWED left and right.

[davedavedaveannoy1]

I say we extract methane, hydrogen, and other gases found in the sewer, garbage dumps, and compost piles. Then we can use the oily waste found in fast food places. And then we take dead people, throw them in a giant series of vats, inject bacteria and extract all the flammable fumes and use the left over liquid decayed "slush" and either use it for fertilization or for increasingly efficient engine and mechanical parts lubrication. We would create more jobs and get something from the deceased!

[usedcardboardboxes]

Vegetable based bio-diesel is a great idea,especially if we start to compost our trash.