Videos of ethanol, biodiesel and Betamax!
Everywhere I read, I read that ethanol is the next fuel that will save us from a polluted, overheated, and fossil-fueled future.
This emphasis seems to be the case particularly in the United States. That’s understandable when you consider that the US is the only major industrial nation that, until recently, never really embraced diesel engines like Europe. So you may understand your crush on ethanol, but that doesn’t make it the right or only choice.
In September, Renault demonstrated its new 207 cabriolet powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, 28 hp electric motor, 81 mph and an operating range of 218 miles, producing nothing but water as its sole emission. This month it was BMW with their new hydrogen powered 7 series. They already have 3 service stations in operation in Germany with more planned. In October, another manufacturer announced its hybrid system that converts braking energy not into electricity, but into compressed gas that is then used to aid acceleration.
So clearly there are other options, however this is all rather wrong. None of these technologies help the power generation industry, nor do they meet the needs of the merchant marine, trucking carriers or rail companies, all of which, outside of the US at least, are diesel powered.
Ethanol is a fuel that is complicated to manufacture and therefore easy to regulate, it remains profitable only because of the huge government subsidies it receives, it uniquely does not encourage the use of more fuel efficient diesel engines, which simply delays sucker Punch. .
Which clearly brings us to the next point. Most of the ethanol in the US is produced from corn, a food crop, a crop that requires good soil to grow in quantity. Are we facing a future in which we choose between fuel and food?
As all betmax video machine owners can attest, it is not always the best product that wins. In the 1980s, Sony’s betmax technology finally lost to VHS, not because VHS was better, but because it was better supported. With luminaries like Bill Gates investing more than $ 84 million in ethanol production and distribution, it will almost certainly be a success, if not exclusive.
In the US-led fossil fuel replacement debate, ethanol is steadily gaining ground. However, the world at large is in need of a diesel replacement, and sooner or later America will have to understand the concept of fuel economy.
The only competitor in this space is biodiesel, a clean fuel that can be sourced from crops like Jatropha, grown on the most marginal terrain unsuitable for food crops, and easily manufactured into plants small enough to fit in the backyards of most people.
What is certain is that, whatever the course of this debate, there will surely be an increase in demand for a good and reliable supply of resistant, high-yielding crops, whether for food or fuel production. Without a doubt, good news for Monsanto with its transgenic seeds.