Biodiesel Car Fuel
Biodiesel looks like one of the most likely alternative fuel sources to make it to market. There are a number of advantages to using biodiesel; the main ones are that it can be used without needing a large investment in infrastructure or new technology. With a few minor modifications biodiesel can be used in existing diesel engines and be sold by gas stations. Biodiesel also has the advantage of being able to perform at a level that is about the same as regular diesel so people should have no objections to using it. There is also the benefit that biodiesel significantly reduces greenhouse emissions and is politically popular in a lot of places because it reduces dependence on foreign oil. With all that it has going for it biodiesel would appear to have a bright future. There are however some issues that need to be addressed.
The biggest issue facing biodiesel is that even if all of the world's farm land was put towards growing crops to be turned into fuel we still wouldn't be able to meet our energy needs with biodiesel alone. Clearly this is a major problem and unless it can be solved biodiesel will remain nothing more than a supplement to other energy sources. There is also the issue that every acre of farmland that is used to grow crops for fuel isn't growing crops for food. This will inevitably result in an increase in food prices. There is also a danger of biodiesel creating cash crops in third world countries that would leave the local residents with no source of food while their government officials get rich selling crops for biodiesel.
Another issue facing biodiesel is the fact that it isn't entirely clear that we are actually getting any benefit out of it. In order to grow the crops and turn them into a fuel source we need to use fuel. There is some evidence that we actually use more energy to create the biodiesel than we get out of it. Clearly this can't be allowed to continue. Although there is a great deal of debate on this subject the fact that it is even close enough for there to be a debate represents a problem that needs to be addressed. It really needs to be clear that there is an energy advantage to using biodiesel if it is ever going to be a major fuel source.
The future of biodiesel is very much up in the air. Certainly it has a lot of things going for it, so many that a few years ago it was considered a given that it would be a major fuel source. Unfortunately as it has been increasingly used as a fuel source a number of problems have come to light. Certainly none of these problems are insurmountable but they are going to have to be addressed. If the problems can be solved then biodiesel could solve a lot of problems.