Fuel - Bio Alternatives - Can it Strike a Balance?

There is an ever increasing demand of sources ofemissions; the fuel production at the expense of food
energy, in particular oil, coal and gas fuels.could worsen hunger worldwide. Farmers in the US
The oil supply has recently climbed up tohave planted maize and corn in magnanimous
unprecedented levels and its prices increased.quantities, as a derive to increase bio-ethanol
This is coupled with the fouling of the earth'sproduction, which inherently have increased its prices
atmosphere with the continuous evolution of carbonas human and animal food source.
dioxide, nitric oxide and other noxious gases, whichThe South American countries, particularly Cuba use
inevitably lead to global warming and catastrophicbio-ethanol produced from sugar cane as a mobile
climate change.energy source, though this did not solve the problem of
Coal is said to have a comeback, more so in Asiathe feeding urban population, nor did it decease the
domain as China. Though this might not solve theprice of food commodities.
problem of evolution of CO2, the main source of globalA recent attempt implemented in Papua New Guinea
warming. There have been some attempts to haveas the use of coca nut oil squeezed off from the
power plants using what is so called "clean coal", i.e.kernels of the fruit, was used as a bio-fuel instead of
release less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but thatdiesel oil for tractors and other heavy vehicles. It was
won't be available for years to come. The problem isof a slow burn however, and cannot initiate proper
also tackled in another way by attempts to sequesterdrag, unless blended with diesel.
CO2 in deep crevices in the earth crust betweenThe world demand for food has been spiraling, partly
impervious rock deposits. But again this may gain fruitbecause of the increase in world's population and
in few years to come.industrialization in making more of those people
Hence the feverish and serious seek for otherprosperous enough to eat better, and more, which
alternatives as a source of clean energy bio-fuels,takes a lot of grain and cereals to produce. The irony
solar and wind drives.here is that the increase in the agricultural research
The main alternative to coal and oil sources is to useand development produced unprecedented crop yields
bio-fuels from crops such as bio-ethanol. Thisin the late 20th century, counterbalanced with the big
provoked a boom in planting; but the burning of thepopulation growth, whence hunger prevailed and will
bio-fuel may not even decrease the greenhouse gascontinue to bite.