A technology fix that has been introduced into society to solve an environmental issue is Biofuels. This form of fuel is produced from biomass. Often consisting of plant material to replace traditional forms, such as gasoline. Since this is a relatively new way to produce fuel there has been new information about both its benefits and harms to the environment. Hence there are some unintended effects at play.
Biofuels have actually delayed our solutions to this problem. We believe we have found a new fuel source when it has actually posed more of an problem. Eventually we will discover that we have not solved our demand for fuel. We will need to find a sustainable fuel supply or end our reliance on transportation. This also shifts our problem because it requires land and soil to be taken up for the use fuel production instead of food supply. Therefore communities are falling victim to food shortages at the price of fuel. The price of food is also effected, in fact rising food prices are due to an increase in demand for food produced with biofuels. It is also changing the land by the causing deforestation. Due to the demand of this new fuel source, forests are being cut down to plant various biomass plants. This not only harms the environment but causes the communities to loose value on their land. Finally, biofuels are creating new problems by introducing fertilizers. These chemicals have been linked with climate change, adding to the problem at hand.
This has brought to light the many reasons and ways technological advances, in this case biofuels, do not always improve environmental issues. Through research, problems can be discovered and we may see that our fix was only temporary. It is not always seen at first but there can be very big or new problems such as the ones mentioned above. This should teach us that we cannot rely solely on technology alone to improve our environment. We need to change our habits now in order to see the real change we need. I propose that we turn to plug-in electric cars and stop our reliance on gasoline powered modes of transportation in order to save and protect our environment and people. Biofuels are not the answer.
While it is true that our current use of corn ethanol is a less than practical way to address our fuel issue there are other biomass sources that are being researched at institutions including Virginia Tech that seem more promising, specifically switch grass. Switch grass eliminates some of the problems associated with using an important food product as fuel however as with most bio fuels usually the largest environmental and monetary cost comes from transporting the raw product to a plant because of the vast amount of land required to generate enough biomass to sustain an economical operation. In my opinion bio-fuels have more potential than some suggest but they are still a long way from perfect.
ReplyDelete-John Marshall
Although I do agree with the ultimate message of this post: replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy; there is a huge role to be played by the advancement of biofuels within our transition. Biofuels can be produced using crops that don't already serve a purpose as a food staple. Switch grass was mentioned earlier and algae is also a potential candidate for biofuel production.
ReplyDeleteSince we have the capacity to develop biofuels right now, we should pursue this in order to reduce our negative externalities in the short run. We will need to make the transition to renewable energy eventually, but the infrastructure will not appear over night. Since our current infrastructure can support biofuel distribution, its development should be our first priority, and this provides us with time to develop new systems to support renewable energy.