Originally posted by factfinder38
Where does Bio fuel come from? If I am not mistaken we would need to use a good portion of the world food supply to make this fuel and with the
population growing the way it is we won't have it to spare. Am I wrong?
Alcohol comes from crops high in sugars, like corn, for example. This is probably where you heard the falsity that the worlds food supply would be in
danger if we used bio-fuels. Do you know how much of our corn is eaten by humans? I wish I could remember the statistic. I'm not one for making them
up when I can't remember, so I'll just tentatively say about 3/4 of the corn was used to feed livestock. Much was exported from the US to other
countries at really low prices because we had a surplus and other countries needed animal feed. There is no shortage of food, hunger is an economic
problem rather than supply. If you search you'll find the information and a few petroleum funded scientists who will encourage the kind of statement
you just made.
Food or fuel? - journeytoforever.org is an awesome source for info on alternative fuels
Wikepedia - More about Ethanol (alcohol - this is the type that is drunk)
Bio-diesel can come from any crop that is high in oil. Peanuts, soybeans, and seeds are the best crops to get vegetable oil from (bio-diesel, once
again, is refined veggie oil). However this isn't the only source. Ironically, the most likely source that it would be harvested from is plain old
algae. Algae is very high in oils and grows in practically any place on earth above freezing, in all kinds of water.
Journeytoforever.org - All you need to know about biodiesel and how to make it
UNH Biodiesel group - Biodiesel from algae
Wikipedia - Biodiesel
