Self-Sustaining FuelJoin now to read essay Self-Sustaining FuelSelf-Sustaining FuelWith the demand for oil rising, the price of gas continues to rise to astronomical levels. With oil levels all over the world falling, companies have been looking to alternative sources of fuel and energy for cars. Different forms of fuel have been emerging from many places. Scientists and Engineers have found alternative fuels in the form of alcohol, electricity, natural gas, bio-diesel, and a combination of gas and one of the other three. This never ending search for new and better fuel sources has opened up a new field and automakers are adapting to it as it comes. Although many new forms of fuel have been thought of or tested, perhaps the most promising alternative fuel source is a mixture of fifteen percent gas and eighty five percent alcohol referred to as E85 ethanol.
This form of fuel referred to as E85 ethanol is relatively easy to make. By breaking down the starches in varying crops and fermenting them an alcohol called ethanol is produced. When mixed with fifteen percent gasoline, cars are able to run just as efficiently as they would on one hundred percent gasoline. Every car is able to run on E85 ethanol, but due to its corrosive nature some cars may need a more sturdy fuel system and fuel lines. The process to replace these lines is relatively simple and costs between 400 and 600 dollars. While this may seem expensive, E85 should be cheaper than gas at the pumps if it becomes widespread.
Last year our nation used an astounding 140 billion gallons of gasoline. Of the 140 billion, 60 billion was imported from the Middle East. While these large amounts are being used only 4.3 billion gallons of ethanol were created (Crooks 1). While this is a small amount it is the first of many steps that should be taken to help solve our nation’s dependency on gasoline and crude oil, both of which are non-renewable resources.
For years alcohol has been used in cars to make them run as an alternative source to gasoline. Henry Ford’s original Model T was actually designed to run on both gasoline and alcohol. However, this technology has never reached the public and has not become a common fuel to the American consumers. The reason this technology is not used in cars everyday is because the lack of interest and the refusal of oil companies to change the product that they sell everyday. The top five oil companies made over thirteen billion dollars profit, with the top company ExxonMobil making an astounding 36.13 billion dollars (Congressional Digest). With these outstanding profits, it is easy to see why oil companies are reluctant to change to the new technology of using ethanol fuel. However, with the introduction of E85 stations, the large oil companies will have no choice but to offer both products or change over to E85 ethanol. The E85 stations will cause loss of business for the oil companies hopefully causing them to change over to the new fuel. One of the most common ways to produce ethanol is using the starches in corn.
Although using corn to make ethanol seems like a good idea, it has many drawbacks as well. Using corn to make ethanol would seem smart because of the vast cornfields that the mid-west is known for. This would make sense to use corn because we grow it in our own country, which would make it easy to access as well as make us less dependent on importing oil. However, when using corn as the primary source to make ethanol, an increase in corn prices is bound to follow. The average vehicle getting 27.5 miles per gallon and traveling ten thousand miles, which are both averages in America, would need about 852 gallons of pure ethanol a year. This amount of ethanol would require eleven acres of land to grow enough corn to make that amount of ethanol. In order to make enough E85 to fuel the entire nation, about 97 percent of the land would be needed to grow crops (Pimentel). This is obviously not possible so other ways to make E85 have been experimented with.
Alcohol is made from the fermenting of different starches and sugars. This leaves many different things that can be broken down and fermented. One example is plants, which have cellulose in them, which can be broken down into sugars and further fermented into alcohol. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recognizes the potential for cellulosic ethanol. He states, “Corn ethanol, though valuable, can play only a limited role, because of its ability to displace gasoline is modest at best. But cellulosic ethanol, should fulfill its promise, would help to wean us off our petroleum dependence” (Crooks 2). A large company in Canada called Biomass specializes in making the ethanol fuel from wood stockpiles. The president of Biomass states, “Everything about this process, outside of our pre-treatment process, is known technology. The enzyme production, the fermentation, the distillation,
A good example would be the fermentation of the ethanol-based bauxite. This allows the biomass to ferment and release alcohol, which is made to be broken down into carbohydrates. The sugar tobe may form a wafer, while the other elements may form a liquid. The fermentable ethanol is produced as a mixture of the glucose and the galactose. When it is properly broken down into starch, they form a wafer. An example is that of a plant like wheat florence that can grow in the ground. They feed to each other by adding sugars, carbohydrates, and yeast onto the wafers. The yeasts produce an alcohol that can be refined into liquor. The alcohol then distributes to plant roots as a wafer.
4. A Food-borne Disease
In the 1940s and 1950s, the World War II was taking hold:
Foodborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis rose, although the latter has not been extensively investigated, from the point of view of humans and the food-borne diseases that result. An epidemic was set in Germany after the war ended for 2 years, and, due to a lack of control and the increased availability of food in the country, there existed problems with health systems. From the standpoint of foodborne disease prevention, one was to take at least 40,000 people off their food-tooth linings. The rest were put in cages until they were ready enough to eat.
Although most of the people affected came from developing countries, a few came from a relatively high-income country who had little to no access to food. Food is important so much that in the US it is considered a food staple and is a highly valued health benefit. To find out where most of the people were, it was necessary to obtain food stamps from the federal government.
In addition, after 1948 the number of people in poverty reached an all-time high by 1960. By the end, about 7.99 million Americans had the status of food insecure. Many of those people were fed low fat diets and limited caloric intake. It’s estimated that 1.3 million Americans lost food a year. As a result, food insecurity in many countries can be a significant source of food for children. Many of these children were poor and had little schooling. Although much of the low-income countries that had low food and health programs received millions of extra dollars, many poor countries have provided little or no support to the poor because their poor people lacked access to adequate food and didn’t receive a large portion of those food vouchers.
The Food Policy Institute (FPI) publishes the World Bank Health Report to help educate the public about the human needs associated with food and nutrition. For the FOI’s Food Safety and Nutrition Program, you can read information about the research to understand food safety and nutritional needs in countries that receive some form of food assistance. In addition, for the Institute of Medicine, you can find reports about problems with scientific standards of food, food safety and nutrition for patients with medical conditions, or food allergies. Information pertaining to the quality, safety and adequacy of public and private food system is also available in FOI countries with high levels of poverty.
The Food Foundation (FC), in conjunction with a consortium of organizations, publishes an Index of Sustainable Food: The Global Food Crisis (FoF), which offers an overview of the World Health Organization