Skyrocketing oil prices and concerns about security of supply are encouraging many researchers to consider the potential advantage of plant-derived biofuels. Moving from fossil fuels to biofuels is still facing questions about its practicality. Moreover, is it possible to avoid contamination in biofuels?
Right now, many countries are using several plants, including miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, and sugarcane to produce biofuels. As a solution to all these problems, researchers are looking for crops other than these, which are already been cultivated for commercial purpose.
In this category, Willow, Hemp and switchgrass, which are already being used in various industries such as rope making, basket making, etc., are likely to be the future target for biofuels. As an advantage, these crops do not compete with food crops.
But, various views, doubts and complexities leaves us in a dilemma. International Water Management Institute, which led a five-year global study on water involving more than 700 researchers, found that if China and India pursue their current biofuel plans, they would face water scarcity by 2030.
Goran Berndes, a researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, expressed the problem in following words: ‘If you need less land, you cannot be sure you need less water.’
Nestle, the world’s largest food company is happily ready to lobby biofuel crops but, showed concerns about the growing prices of food crops.
To avoid such a calamity researchers are all set to harness second generation biofuel plants to avoid energy crisis as well as rising conflict about food crops which asks a genuine question that, whether is it more important to feed our cars than starving people.
Image Credit: LifeDynamix
Via: ENN
