Saturday, July 14, 2007

Bio Fuels - Avoiding Unintended Environmental Consequences

One of the many silver news beginnings I digest (Get it?) recently reported that many dairymen throughout the state are closing down their dairies, selling the cows, and preparing to works maize and soys instead. This is largely owed to the fact that dairy farm work is long, difficult and arduous, and the enticement of money from the ethyl alcohol marketplace looks like a much better gig. It is a displacement that tin do a batch of sense, but expression for it to have got an consequence on milk, and other dairy farm prices. This conveys me to my point. The rippling consequence in economic system and environment.

This is often very slippery and unpredictable, particularly with such as volatile industries, but it is deserving disbursement a small clip in consideration, particularly since it could convey about some unintended consequences, and perhaps, some inconvenient truths.

Nowhere is this more than apparent than in the motion away from dodo fuels, and toward bio fuels. I like the thought of growing our fuels. It would be great for the environment, at least to a point. Let me explicate my concern.

If in the procedure of raising the natural stuffs for this change, we can avoid creating new environmental problems, it will be not only great, but bordering on the miraculous! One of the things we will necessitate to cover with is the inquiry of erosion. The ethyl alcohol marketplace will, without a doubt, draw many people into farming, most of whom will have got small involvement in maintaining environmental integrity. Can we carry through this without producing a new "dust bowl?"

What if we happen that production will be deficient for our demands owed to drought or flooding, after we have got go dependent on these new methods? Volition we then turn to methyl alcohol production and endure the personal effects of millions of people stripping the woods and pasturelands in order to drive.

What will go on if so many of our husbandmen ranchers and dairymen transmigrate to ethyl alcohol production, and away from nutrient production that it impacts the terms and handiness of nutrient adversely? Great, we have got combustible to acquire to the store, but no nutrient to purchase when we acquire there!

I am not saying that bio combustibles are not the answer. When coupled with other engineerings and innovations, including solar technology, storage cell improvements, better ways to harness weave and kinetic energy, more than efficient powerfulness coevals and application, H power, and many others, all workings in tandem, great advancement can be made. We necessitate to make certain that we do not set all our eggs in one basket, as we seemingly have got done with dodo fuels. We also necessitate to do certain that we are prepared to cover with the different set of effects that are possible with any emerging technology.

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