What's in store for the future of biofuels? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about biofuel technology. Most ethanol-based biofuels are produced in Brazil and the U.S. More than 30 million acres of agricultural land has already been turned over for biofuel production. What are the consequences of this technology on the environment and food production?
Drop us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. Will biofuels help us become energy independent? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.
Guests:
Erik Nelson, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and the Department of Applied Economics at University of Minnesota.
Patricia Monahan, director of the California office and deputy director for Clean Vehicles at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Click to Listen: What's in store for the future of biofuels?
An excellent film on biofuel is 'Fuel' which is now playing in San Francisco and Berkeley.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line at the end of the film, and as has been discussed on this program, is that biofuel will be one of many solutions. Two others not discussed as much are public transportation and bicycling. Plus living closer to where you work and play.
I agree in principle with the caller who champions the switch to electric cars recharged using solar energy. (Add to this the development of low-impact, long-distance transportation, i.e. a robust train system.) However, there is the problem of diverting electricity production from home and business use to feed electric vehicles. Rather like the question of diverting cropland from food to fuel production.
ReplyDeleteBut we won't be giving up conventional vehicles in our lifetime, and 'green-goo' and ocean-source biofuel offer the most attractive options. Algae can grow in a small land footprint, given that tall structures are envisioned for its production.
The challenge, then, is to work against big agra defining the infrastructure of the biofuel industry.