Bio-Crude

One of the problems of bio fuels has been the reliance of crops that are easy to crack. The cost- benefit calculation when using corn, grains and other food crops to make alcohol is that the energy input to convert these sorts of crops to usable fuel is greater than the amount of energy you can gain. Add in the reduction of land diverted from food production plus the rise in food prices in addition to distortions in tax policy and all you've achieved is another boon for the farm lobby with no net increase in fuel supplies and no reduction in carbon emissions.

The hope has been to use less valuable bio matter to produce fuel. However these sorts of raw material have been difficult to crack into usable fuel. The CSIRO and Monash University recently announced that they have developed efficient and cheap chemical processes that could achieve this dream by making is possible to use cellulose to make fuel. Lignocellulose is both renewable and potentially greenhouse gas neutral. It is predominantly found in trees and is made up of cellulose. Waste material that is currently burned or buried could be used to make fuel without using more land and using energy inputs that already exist and not increase the carbon cost to the environment.

If the chemical processes can be scaled up, even those farmers and distillers who currently benefit from high corn and grain prices and tax benefits may sign on as they could use material that is now merely treated as waste. For instance, all the paper devoted to describing, reporting, calculating, checking, proposing and regulating our current system of taxation could be used to make fuel. The results: lower carbon emissions, lower food prices, less drain on the treasury and an alternative source of energy. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Now if we could only find a way to harness all the hot air blown by politicians into usable fuel!