The False Promise of Biofuels Biofuels come from plants, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

as they grow, burning biofuels in vehicles would in theory slow the buildup of greenhouse gases, compared with burning fossil fuels 13 billion gallons of ethanol consume roughly 40% of the nation's corn crop, pushing up food prices and feeding an enormous dead !one" in the #ulf of $exico% &thanol could be brewed from sugar derived from the hus's and stal's of the corn plant, rather than edible 'ernel or similarly fibrous material in grasses or even trees (i)uid fuels could be harvested from algae, whih more efficiently turn water, *+,, and sunlight into fats that can be converted into hydrocarbons or more effective still, from genetically engineered microorganisms that could directly extract hydrocarbons -ermentation is the core technology for ma'ing ethanol from corn .eplacing all /%0 transportation fuels with corn ethanol would re)uire a farm three times the si!e of the continental /%0 0+(/12+3045 *ellulosic ethanol, produced from the rest of the corn plant the stover or waste which would no adversely affect the food supply 6ccording to +a' .idge 3ational (aboratory, the /%0 could generate 1%4 billion tons of cellulosic material such as corn stover, 70% could be converted to biofuel, desplacing 30% of /%0 transportation fuel -ind a way to efficiently brea' down a plant's cell wall is the challenge even with historically high gasoline prices advanced biofuels cannot compete as a fuel *orn stover is typically left on farmland after harvest to improve the soils fertility if it is removed it can accelerate soil degradation, rendering the soil incapable of growing crops% 6lgal biofuels can prevent organisms from falling prey to predators, disease or contamination by natural strains producing hydrocarbons in algae's defense against long periods without sunlight or nutrients is the biggest problem 1he )uestion of where will be all go when oil runs out is one that has been coming up in the last couple of years% 8ence the reason why the encouragement of switching to some alternative energy source is being done often% +ne big idea that has become famous is the use of biofuels% 9hat biofuels are, fuel derived directly from living matter% 8ow this is done, is by a series of process that are still continuing to be refined to be able to produce a better )uality product% 6 type of biofuel tal'ed about in the article is ethanol from corn 'ernels% 0ome other matter that can contribute to biofuels are starch crops, oilsead crops, sugar crops and animal fats% 1he beauty of ethanol is that it will control the rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere% -or example with each time one burns ethanol the plants absorb the carbon dioxide to create oxygen, this becomes a cycle as long as plants are continuing on being planted% 6lthough biofuel does sound li'e the solution to all our problems, it comes with some problems of it's own% -or example producing the corn to create ethanol ta'es up a lot of space, as well as raises food prices because the food is not being used by the people rather than for the fuel% 2t is said that if we were to replace all /%0 transportation fuel with corn ethanol it would re)uire a farm three times the si!e of the continent /%0 to grow the corn% 2n the #ulf of $exico because of corn production for ethanol there is an enormous dead !one"% $any people are dying due to starvation because they cannot afford the food% 2 always thought biofuels were good, 2 honestly never thought there would be a problem with them except maybe the amount of space that would be needed to grow all these crops, but that was it%

6t the same time though it shouldn't be a surprise since with every good comes a bad% 1hat refers to everything% 2n this instance the good is living and creating a cleaner earth, the bad is the damages and effects it will have on nature% 2 thin' they should continue to research this alternative energy source because we need to stop our reliance on foreign country for oil% +verall we need to stop our reliance on oil% 2t's upsetting to 'now that we will do anything for oil even if that means going against the people% 2t's time we start wal'ing to school instead of driving, and if it is absolutely necessary to drive, go ta'e the bus or carpool% 0mall changes li'e these is what will also help clean up the earth%

0o 9hat4 2t's good to 'now about what is going on in the world, especially about things li'e alternative energy because that is what it loo's li'e we will be switching to in a few decades when everything comes crashing down% 9hat 2f%%4 2f we never would have found out about the cons of biofuel then we probably would've ;ust assumed it would be energy friendly and when finding out it isn't might bring uproar in big environmentalists%

0ays 9ho4 1his article was written by :avid Biello, but other scientists and researchers as well as universities contributed to the information found%

9hat :oes 1his .emind <ou +f4 1his reminds me of the guy who made a house that was made of about 40% recycled items li'e bottles, cans, tires, ect% 2 thought that was ama!ing and one day 2 would li'e to go see with my own eyes%