Biofuels vs. Fossil Fuels
ultoday.com will begin a multi-part series with Dean Mark Zappi of Engineering, an internationally recognized expert in biofuels & bioprocessing. This essay leads up to that interview.
One of the constant complaints about biofuels is that they simply aren't economically feasible. They aren't competitive with petroleum without heavy government subsidies.
Whoever said the petroleum industry doesn't require government subsidies?
How much of Congress' time is devoted to energy policy, to international regulations aimed at protecting the flow of oil to our shores, and to tax considerations and other regulations, to insure that the oil companies can continue drilling?
How much of the State Department's negotiations are designed around concerns about protecting our foreign oil sources?
How many beneficial international partnerships has America lost out on, out of a need to sustain regrettable partnerships, to protect our energy usage?
And what part of our enormous military budget is expended to protect oil? How much of our global military strategy targets protecting overseas energy sources?
Look at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Regardless of how you feel about the wars, consider this: without our dependence on oil, would we be involved in that region? Without our presence for drilling and exploration in the Middle East, would terrorists hate us? Would jihadists even know who we are?
I'm not defending the people who are attacking America. I'm simply pointing out a historical fact: our dependence on oil has cost us dearly, in ways we have not formally recognized.
That's not a criticism of oil, nor the companies who produce it. Oil was a historical necessity, and biofuels are new.
But we need to realize that some government subsidies are indirect, and America has new options appearing. If we can derive energy from other sources, if we can produce fuel from agricultural products, then our sources for raw materials-- domestically, within the free world, and everywhere-- expand dramatically.
And the more that we use biofuels, then the current peripheral costs to oil-- the indirect subsidies-- will decrease.
Considering all of these things, it is possible that even without the recent increases in gas prices, biofuels may already be cheaper than petroleum.
