Bioethanol

Extracting coal, oil and gas is dangerous and polluting and these fossil fuels are non-renewable. As we use up easily-accessible sources of coal, oil and gas, extracting them becomes harder, more expensive and more dangerous. Burning fossil fuels (both for heating and as fuel for vehicles) is the main source of ‘greenhouse gases’, carbon dioxide and others which allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface, resulting in overheating of the Earth. The New Internationalist magazine, reported ‘The Arctic ice-sheets are melting far faster than the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected only last year (2008). Their conclusion is that the world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

Current Situation

Nuclear power is extremely expensive to produce, requires great attention to safety because of the risks from radioactivity, has the potential for catastrophic accidents (such as the one at Chernobyl in 1986), and produces waste products which require looking after for thousands of years. While it has the potential to generate a lot of electricity, the risks are high and the same investment in insulation, energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy would produce great benefits and fewer risks.

Solar, wind and wave power have the major advantages of being renewable but still require capital investment to harness them and still have environmental impacts. Large-scale wind-farms have similar impacts to any industrial development, changing the character of the environment and requiring raw materials and energy to build.

In conclusion, although bioethanol fuel has several disadvantages, they can be solved with simple solutions. Thus bioethanol fuel is a good source of energy.

Disavantages of Bioethanol Fuel

Bioethanol production requires significant heat input often unsustainable natural gas fossil fuel, but cellulosic biomass such as the waste left after sugar cane is pressed to extract its juice can also be used more sustainably.

Advantages of Bioethanol Fuel

Bioethanol is produced by fermentation of sugars during alcohol production. As such, it can be obtained from the alcohol industry and is readily available.

Bioethanol replace gasoline; it can be mixed with gasoline to any percentage. Most existing car petrol engines can run on blends of15% bioethanol with gasoline.

Bioethanol has lower energy content per unit of volume compared to gasoline, so more fuel stops are required. However, since bioethanol is more readily available than gasoline, it is cheaper.

video illustrating bioethanol production process, and more advantages

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