{"id":14214,"date":"2013-07-29T19:31:08","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T16:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/drop-in-biofuels-the-good-the-bad-and-the-missed-opportunity\/"},"modified":"2013-07-29T19:31:08","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T16:31:08","slug":"drop-in-biofuels-the-good-the-bad-and-the-missed-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/drop-in-biofuels-the-good-the-bad-and-the-missed-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Drop-in Biofuels: The Good, the Bad, and the Missed Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But with familiar drawbacks such as high costs, efficiency, and intensive resource use, is drop-in biofuels truly a better solution to our world\u2019s fossil fuel dependence? Or is it another carbon polluter in masquerade?<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drop-in biofuels are defined by the US Department of Energy (DOE) as hydrocarbon fuels substantially similar to gasoline, diesel, and\/or jet fuels. These types of biofuels can be produced from a variety of typical biomass feedstock including algae, crop residues, and woody biomass.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Advantages<\/span>
\n<\/h3>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drop-in biofuels essentially aims to supply fuel with its traditional quality specifications without requiring upgrades for modern-day vehicles. This way, drop-in biofuels bypasses fast commercialization barriers like infrastructure incompatibility because it \u2018drops in\u2019 to existing infrastructure.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is primarily the main if not only advantage industry leaders are anxious to gain. Just last week\u00a0Renewable Energy World<\/a>\u00a0reported the DOE\u2019s move to invest $13 million in four drop-in biofuels R&D projects. The investment was meant to spur research regarding key technical barriers to both economic feasibility and improved yield of drop-in biofuels production.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disadvantages<\/span>
\n<\/h3>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alas, \u2018next-generation\u2019 technology does not predicate \u2018superior\u2019 or \u2018disadvantage-free\u2019 compared to previous technologies.\u00a0National Geographic<\/a>\u00a0featured the rising pilot- and demonstration scale production of drop-in biofuels by alternative energy start-ups like KiOR. KiOR, the first commercial cellulosic biorefinery, uses wood chips from southern yellow pine trees. Others use switchgrass, waste material, and biomass. While drop-ins developed from sources like these may employ recycling advantages to a certain point, their inherent disadvantages may mean more bad news for the planet\u2019s environmental health already sustaining damage from heavy fossil fuel dependence.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drop-in biofuels\u2019 bad idea is really a combination of its predecessor\u2019s drawbacks: more expensive and sophisticated technology, resource (water, cropland, fertilizer) and energy intensive production, regional suitability, efficiency and energy output issues, and impact on the environment. Moreover, even advanced drop-in biofuels will still produce carbon emissions at the end of the day.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Missed Opportunity<\/span>
\n<\/h3>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While there are valid doubts about drop-in biofuels\u2019 viability as an eco-friendly fossil fuel-replacement, the greatest tragedy of all is not the risk of deforestation, extensive monoculture, or even food security \u2013 but a missed opportunity. In the Nat Geo article,\u00a0Safe Climate Campaign<\/a>\u00a0Director Dan Becker said that he is concerned about biofuels possibly getting in the way of developing more environmentally friendly solutions. This includes plug-in vehicles being powered by non-carbon burning methods such as wind and solar. With awareness about carbon emissions and climate change growing around the world, the impetus for a historical global shift from fossil fuel dependence to renewable energy sustainability is like never before.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the face of economical and environmental challenges our multi-generational fossil fuel dependence has brought us, our choice to be mobile is a complex one, to say at the least. It clearly drives the energetic search for solutions alongside the refusal to give up our mobile modernity.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No one can say this is absolutely wrong, however. But the choice we still have in our generation\u2019s metaphorical jiff in history is to determine to pursue solutions with long-term gains, however bothered we may eventually become in our lifetime. Taking care of our planet for the future requires being inconvenienced in advance after all, especially when it comes to making the best decisions.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SOURCE: http:\/\/www.theenvironmentalblog.org<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

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\n\tTo register your Company as ADD ENERGY PARTNER , please access \u00a0\u00a0\"register_now_2\"<\/a><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But with familiar drawbacks such as high costs, efficiency, and intensive resource use, is drop-in biofuels truly a better solution to our world\u2019s fossil fuel dependence? Or is it another carbon polluter in masquerade? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drop-in biofuels are defined by the US Department of Energy (DOE) as hydrocarbon fuels substantially similar to gasoline, diesel, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,349,250,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-informatii-din-presa-internationala","category-international-press","category-news","category-stiri-utile-noutati"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/add-energy.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}