Biodiesel
Though biofuels do provide an amazing way to get power and live with a cleaner world, nothing is free. Living in a world free from crude oil would be outstanding and the environment would be better. Sadly, like crude oils, biofuels have their own drawbacks. These drawbacks include higher crop prices, more land usage, deforestation, and public disputes. For example: "A 2013 study found projections for the effect of biofuels on corn prices in 2015 ranging from a 5 to a 53 percent increase (Zhang et al. 2013). The National Research Council’s (2011) report on the RFS included several studies finding a 20 to 40 percent increase in corn prices from biofuels during 2007 to 2009."
A comical animation of the draw backs of bio diesel
Innovators & Economic Impact
Economic Impact of Bio Diesel
Biodiesel manufacturing in the United States has been a relatively small venture, producing just over 62,000 jobs in the year 2013 and supporting 16.8 billion dollars of economic impact. Now, these seem like big numbers, but when put next to the 700 billion spent on oil in 2013 its apparent to how small biodiesel is. Even though biodiesel is a small impact on the economy today, it probably won't be tomorrow. Biodiesel is growing the way it was estimated, that by 2050, it would be over 65% of the world's energy. This would lead to new jobs and fields being created and new improvements to the economy.
Europe's Innovations
Over the last few years, Europe has been working toward being a more biofuel driven society. It's clear that the EU or European Union has a love for biodiesel. In 2013 Europe accounted for nearly 80% of all biofuel production in the world. On top of that, the European Union is the largest biodiesel market in the world and the third largest biofuel market in the world. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), total biodiesel production in 2012 was about 24 billion liters. Almost half of global biodiesel production came from the European Union.
Innovators of Bio Diesel
Lawrence Livermore scientist
Scientist working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory how to make E. coli produce advanced biofuels, And the way to get these E. coli to produce this advanced bio diesel is found in the genes of a soil from a rain forest in Puerto Rico. This discovery is a large step forward in toward more efficient bio fuels and easier ways of obtaining bio fuels. This has been a problem that scientists have been looking to solve for years and so without this team we would be a lot farther from cheap and efficient bio fuels.
Martin Mittelbach
Martin Mittelbach is one of today’s most avid biodiesel scientists. He is the publisher of the first comprehensive handbook for biodiesel, and, under his guidance, the first pilot plant worldwide for the production of rapeseed oil methyl esters was put into operation in 1985. Without Martin Mittelbach, we wouldn’t know the things we know about biodiesel today.
Rudolph Diesel's Innovarions
As the creator of the diesel engine, he has made one biggest impacts to biodiesel. Diesel was one of the first people to look into making alternate sources of fuel and his engine did just that. When he made the engine, he made it so that it could run on almost anything, some of the most common things being coal dust and vegetable oil and even once ran on peanut oil. Without this man biodiesel wouldn’t be where it is now.
