I can't tell you how many times a day I come across the statement that biodiesel is great and all, but not feasible. It "takes too much cropland." This is simply wrong.
Biodiesel, which is vegetable oil that has been slightly refined, will run in most modern diesel engines just fine, without needing to modify the car. And, since it's part of a
closed carbon cycle, it adds very little net CO2 to the atmosphere. It is much less polluting than petro diesel in most other ways as well. So it would seem like the perfect fuel to transition to, right? Many would at this point say something like "yes, but it takes more cropland than we have in order to grow it." This is true, if you're talking about soy (which is where most current biodiesel comes from). However, like most other alternative fuel technologies, research into biodiesel has not been standing still. There are two key technological advances that put to rest the idea that biodiesel is not massively scalable.
1. Algae
There are a number of people at work on ways to grow algae with high oil content for use as a biodiesel feedstock. Technologically, they are close (as far as I can tell), and working out details, as well as waiting for the price of oil to be high enough to make it economically attractive to put into large-scale use.
This is the classic website on algae-farm-derived biodiesel. Even with current oil prices where they are, biodiesel is more expensive than petro diesel, yet a lot of progress is being accomplished. Can you imagine what will be accomplished with this technology when petro diesel is more expensive than even current technology biodiesel?
2. Biodiesel from biomass
A
recent article in Science discusses another promising source of biodiesel - biomass. Basically using any waste vegetation, or even purposely grown vegetation, as a source of biodiesel. This is not simply getting the oil from the plant as we currently do - this is a process whereby the whole mass of the plant is turned into biodiesel. It is a complex process with many steps, but as I understand it, it also has room for optimization.
Both of these are the likely biodiesel technologies of the future. Right now, there isn't enough demand to justify going large-scale with either of these. But the demand for biodiesel is growing at an impressive rate, and, at some point in the future, one or both of these technologies will likely be used to meet that demand. There is absolutely no reason that this should not be the fuel of the future. Heck, it's the fuel of today if you're luck enough to live where there are biodiesel pumps.
I understand the doom and gloom of the peak oil diaries. There is plenty to worry about. But please, don't write off biodiesel. In my opinion, it, and electricity, are the automotive fuels of the future. I think, unfortunately, that biodiesel has largely and prematurely been written off by a number of the leading authorities on peak oil. Even
"The End of Oil," one of the more balanced and less alarmist books on the subject, has nary a mention of biodiesel. I believe that most of this is due to the outdated idea that biodiesel feedstocks are not scalable. Unfortunately, this idea has gained a lot of traction, and it's going to take a lot of work from the biodiesel community to refute this mistaken impression. How's this for a start? I just looked at the wikipedia link below, and algae is potentially something like 200 times as efficient as soy. Which is why I happen to think biodiesel is the future.
Some resources:
http://www.biodieselnow.com (and the
forums)
http://www.biodiesel.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel