Our nation’s excessive consumption of petroleum based fuels coupled with

rising oil prices make it more than evident that a low cost alternative fuel is

needed.  Since the infrastructure of automobiles in the United States consists

of gasoline fueled vehicles, ethanol is the bio-derived fuel that makes the

most sense. Also, our ability to grow corn in the U.S as opposed to the oily

tropical plants, further paves the way for ethanol usage. Clearly, the U.S

government’s extensive support of the development of ethanol reflects this

fact. Yet, in European nations where a majority of vehicles are powered by

diesel, perhaps biodiesel or vegetable oil makes the most sense.

No matter which fuel is chosen by a particular nation, replacing petroleum

based fuels with bio-derived fuels will always have a definite environmental

benefit.  As we have seen, bio-fuels result in a reduction of pollutants in the

atmosphere and help to ease the pressures of global warming. Namely, all

bio-derived fuels significantly reduce CO_­2 emissions since the source of

these fuels are plants, which consume CO_­2 during growth. Biofuels are also

beneficial because they extract energy from various agricultural products that

would have otherwise gone to waste.  For instance, useless substances like

corn stalk and sugarcane bagasse have found usefulness in ethanol

production.

In sum, because bio-derived fuels are still in early stages of development,

consumption of gasoline and other petroleum based fuels far exceed that of

biofuels. Significantly more infrastructures must be installed before biofuels

can significantly reduce our dependency on oil.  Additional ethanol production

facilities need to be built and more vehicles that burn this fuel must be

produced. Despite the fact that alternative fuels may never entirely replace

petroleum based fuels, our nation should still make every attempt to foster

the use of bio-derived fuels to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.  At the

very least, the environmental advantages of biofuel will help us all breath a bit

easier.