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In a stunningly futuristic move, scientists are developing a new generation of bio-fuel that could actually clean the air of carbon, leave the earth greener than consumers found it. You can pitch in to help their research see the light of day, and reach the consumer market. By becoming educated and then spreading the word about fourth-generation biofuels, you'll help raise awareness of this new technology. By making your voice heard to legislators and other funding sources, and letting the powers that be know that citizens feel this research is a priority, you'll help keep a steady stream of funding coming in to the labs where this green solution is being developed.
Biofuels 101
Biofuels are ecologically sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Unlike oil, a limited resource which creates emissions that contribute to global warming, biofuels are carbon-neutral, and a renewable resource. Biofuels are on their way to becoming an affordable and eco-smart oil replacement across the board. You can already use them to power vehicles like cars, buses, and scooters, to fire up your cooking stove, or even to heat your home. Willie Nelson and other green musicians use biodiesel to power their tour buses, and plenty of less famous greenies are jumping on the bandwagon, too.
Switching to biofuels at home and on the road has the potential to make a lot of green sense, both before and after it makes its way into your fuel tank. Biofuels have the potential to be a renewable resource, made from plant life that can be farmed, or from post-consumer waste that's constantly being produced already. If you're using a biofuel based on a crop like soybeans, the plants grown for the product will actually help clean Earth's atmosphere of excess carbon, a process which helps offset the amount of emissions released into the air when the fuel is burned. If you're using a biofuel based on a waste product like sawdust, you’re keeping that material out of landfill. Either way, this green fuel burns cleaner than traditional heating oil, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the air, and has the potential to revolutionize the energy sector of the world economy, which would be seriously awesome.
Biofuels With Issues
However, not all biofuels are created equal. There are four generations of biofuel, each with its own unique environmental and economic context. First generation biofuel is made directly from food crops. Currently the easiest kind of biofuel to produce, it's currently more affordable and accessible to consumers than more recently discovered biofuel technologies. The bad news is that widespread reliance on first generation biofuel may increase poverty by raising food prices, and may squeeze out ecological diversity by increasing demand for crops that are most profitably grown in the biological monocultures of large-scale commercial farming. So, it's great for some people to use it, but in terms of a solution on a global level, it's definitely flawed. Second generation biofuel comes from non-food plant materials, including waste products like excess sawdust. This is great news from a waste reduction perspective, but the fuel is currently too expensive to produce and obtain to become commercially viable for everyone, so it's still kind of an elite solution, out of the financial reach of many consumers. Third generation biofuel is an emerging technology that's primed to harvest clean energy from algae plants, and while the science has promise, some environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact of algaculture on the global ecosystem. This stuff turns out to be kind of complicated, because when you're looking at biofuel, you can't just look at how clean it burns, you have to look at the impact of how and where it's going to get made and distributed.
Biofuels On The Horizon
The "fourth generation biofuels" currently being explored on the cutting edge of science may hold a better answer. Instead of requiring that large swatches of land or water be used for farming the materials that turn into fuel, this new stuff would be based on genetically altered microbes specifically designed to be as eco-friendly as possible. Sure, that definitely sounds like something from a science fiction movie, but based on what's going on in labs right now, it could actually really be a real solution for this real world in which we live. Not only is this a totally amazing idea because of how the fuel would get made, to add to the splash, it's a totally amazing idea because of what it would do. From cradle to grave, this biofuel would actually be carbon negative. That means that, through the process of making and using this fuel, people would actually reduce the overall amount of carbon in the air, literally reversing some of the damage done by emissions from fossil fuels. That's the plan according to scientist Carl Venter, leader of the Human Genome project and a pioneering force in the biofuel field. That's a pretty cool plan. You can't fill your tank with this fuel yet, because it's basically still being invented by guys in white lab coats who are messing around with Petri dishes and all that. However, there is something you can do.
What Can I Do?
For now, the greenest way to contribute to the development of better biofuels is by getting politically active. Get vocal, writing and calling your elected officials to demand increased funding for the kind of research that Venter and his industry colleagues are doing as they strive to create viable green fuels for the global marketplace. Tell all your friends about what's going on, and ask everyone you know to make support for alternative fuel a major issue, something that guides their voting choices, something that makes it into the debate. Refuse to stay quiet on this one, because it's kind of a big deal.
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