Abstract:
The world has become addicted to liquid petroleum fuels. It has been advocated that the US should move toward energy security by reducing foreign sources of oil and expanding the role of biomass as a domestic renewable energy source. This path presumably would result in fewer carbon dioxide emissions and less environmental consequences than traditional sources, while promoting sustainable economic development. Some crops, such as corn (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max), have been suggested to replace imported oil as feedstocks for ethanol and biodiesel. Some other crops, e.g. switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), tree species, and organic byproducts or wastes, are under consideration as feedstocks. Major efforts to investigate the production and conversion of these renewable energy sources have been funded for several years, involving many scientists and engineers in numerous states and countries. Much research remains to be done before cellulosic ethanol will be ready technologically and economically as a suitable fuel substitute and most of the solutions that have surfaced will compete directly with resources needed for food or feed. The essay presents some of the unstated or suppressed assumptions underlying current programs and the seductively simplistic, sometimes misleading policies advocated, condenses pertinent scientific knowledge, suggests the urgent need to decrease demand for liquid transportation fuels, indicates that other renewable energy sources with great potential have not been exploited, articulates the need to modify current assumptions and investigate other options, asserts that substituting fuel security for food security is immoral, and challenges readers to become knowledgeable in these matters.
Keywords:
Food, fuel, global perspective, biomass energy, Fribourg
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