Over this semester, I have researched four different biofuel technologies, namely algae, cellulosic ethanol, vegetable oil, and biodiesel. I’m really excited to see where all these different biofuels will lead into the next few years. I hope and believe that one of them will make a major breakthrough.
My favorite option is probably algae. It seemed to have the most promise and it is able to be grown and produced all over the world. Although the other technologies are currently used on a larger scale, they have a slight question of sustainability and some people are concerned over things like corn ethanol dipping into the food supply. Algae are also able to produce the most amount of fuel per amount harvested. Algae do not create new carbon because they take carbon out of the air and then release the same carbon back out. Hopefully more testing will be done to determine how the fuel economy is and how efficient the fuel is.
None of the options that were discussed are perfect, but neither is the petroleum that we are using now. With any new, or old, technology, there are going to be benefits and drawbacks. Deciding the best option is about looking at all the pros and cons and seeing which ones are the most favorable…or sometimes the just least unfavorable. In the coming years I am sure scientists, researchers, and engineers will be able to solve the problem of an energy source. If they don’t, we will just have to adapt to the new way of life. It will definitely be interesting to see where all of the technologies lead and how our energy dependence is impacted.