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Today’s entry in the top 5 biofuels spectacular is good old sugar cane. If you’re into producing sugar cane, then there’s a 45 percent chance you’re Brazilian. They produce about that much of the world’s ethanol from the cane. And they’ve been doing so since the 1970s, so they’re pretty darn good at it too.
The cool thing about sugar cane is that it requires very little energy input to distill down to bioethanol. The reason why is that producers use bagasse, the fiber that remains after extraction of juice from the sugarcane, as the heat mechanism in the distillation process. In other words, they use part of the plant as part of the “fuel” it needs to complete the process. Pretty cool, eh?
Today’s entry into the top 5 biofuels sweepstakes is rapeseed. This mustard green is also known as oilseed and canola. Though it is indeed and leafy green, it’s largely grown for it’s seeds, which are about 40 percent oil. China and Europe produce most it, to the tune of about 47 million tons per year in total.
Rapeseed has been used for making soap, oils and plastics manufacturing, but it really shines as a biofuel. In fact, Europe is the leader in making biodiesel from rapeseed oil. Why? Mainly because they heavily subsidize the stuff in Europe, much like the United States does with corn. The EU wants to have 10 percent of its vehicles running on biodiesel by the year 2020 and rapeseed looks to be a major player.
OK, people. Who’s ready to talk biofuel? This guy, that’s who. First, how about a biofuel lesson that everyone can easily understand? When fuel is burned, it releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. CO2 is a good thing in some ways, it’s used by plants to grow. But too much of it has caused [...]
The Lightning GT is a high-performance electric car that uses revolutionary technology to avoid the drawbacks of other electric vehicles. Learn more about electric cars and the Lightning GT in this HowStuffWorks podcast.
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