Last week, President Bush announced in his State of the Union address
that the United States is "addicted to oil." This realization comes not
a moment too soon, as a peak in global oil production may be on the
horizon, according to experts featured in this month's Peak Oil
<http://www.worldwatch.org/ct/20060207/pubs/mag/2006/191/> issue of
World Watch magazine.
Luckily, there are alternatives. Biofuels, particularly ethanol, may be
part of the answer. By fermenting plant material into ethanol, the U.S.
and other oil-guzzling nations could grow a much larger share of their
fuel domestically, offering them an opportunity to dramatically reduce
reliance on oil imports and mitigate the release of carbon into the
atmosphere. (See State of the World 2006, Chapter 4: Cultivating
Renewable Alternatives to Oil
<http://www.worldwatch.org/ct/20060207/pubs/sow/2006/toc/4/>.) As
Worldwatch biofuels project manager Suzanne Hunt notes in a recent
Reuters article
<http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34844/story.htm>,
the biggest potential for large-scale production lies in cellulosic
ethanol technologies--ethanol made from agricultural, forestry, and
municipal wastes, not food crops.
This spring, Worldwatch will launch its landmark report, "Biofuels for
Transportation: Global Potential and Implications for Sustainable
Agriculture and Energy in the 21st Century
<http://www.worldwatch.org/ct/20060207/features/renewables/>." The
study--developed in cooperation with the German Agency for Technical
Cooperation (GTZ) and the Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR), with
funding from the German Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and
Agriculture (BMELV)--is being conducted by an international group of
experts and explores the potential of biofuels as a major fuel source in
the 21st century.
For statistics on ethanol production worldwide, download the Worldwatch
Global Trend, World Ethanol Production, 1980-2004
<http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/globaltrends/#3>, for only $1.00!
[permaculture] more on ethanol,
Saor Stetler, 02/08/2006