As we know, invention and technology in transportation have changed our concept of distance and made the world smaller. People will always love private cars because they represent a kind of freedom. Needless to say, it needs energy to run cars. According to recent data from the U.S.A government, fossil fuels provide 97% of all the energy consumed for transportation in the USA. However, fossil fuels were formed from plants and animals that lived on earth millions of years ago. The resources of fossil fuels are limited and non-renewable.
The figure below is the world oil production prediction conducted by the Energy Research Center, University of Kansas. According to this prediction the world oil production will peak in 2009. It is arguable when the peak in oil production will occur, past, now, or in 10 years. But it is hard to avoid this conclusion that the worldly oil production will peak soon and then decline.
After world oil production peaks and declines, the world will face a severe situation. The situation is that the world simply cannot produce enough fossil oil to meet the demand from transportation. This energy gap for transportation has to be filled. And to be safe and sustainable, the alternative energy source should be diverse, such as electricity, hydrogen fuel cell and biofuels. Biofuels are fuels that are derived from biomass. It can be produced from crops, weeds, trees and algae. The main forms of biofuels are bioethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol is ethanol fermented from sugars or starches of corn and sugarcane etc. And Biodiesel is plant oil extracted from soybean and oil palm etc.
The advantage of biofuels over batteries or other technologies to run cars is convenience. It takes only 10 min to refill you car with liquid fuel but it would take much longer with electricity.
Although biofuels offer an alternative to support economic growth and national security, there are some concerns about developing biofuels. The most important concern is competition between food and fuel. If biofuels become more profitable for farmers, they may grow crops for biofuel production instead of food production. And less food production will increase food prices.
Nowadays, scientists are working on improving biofuel production efficiency and lower the production cost. In the future, it is possible to genetically-engineer bacteria and to make them directly produce ethanol or other fuels.
In 2008 USA produced about 4 billion gallons of biofuels accounting for about 3% of all transportation fuel consumed. Obama’s presidential energy plan for biofuels is 60 billion gallons per year by 2030, which is 15 times more than the present biofuel production. This is a challenging goal.
Can we solve the energy problem? Yes we can. I believe, with the advancement of science and technology, the USA and the world will solve the energy problem.
