It would seem, at least from recent articles and reports in both The Economist and New Scientist magazines, that the economy is poised for the next big boom, courtesy of Biofuels.
And I certainly hope so.
An article in The Economist today elaborates on the recent developments in, and more importantly the significant financial backing and funding provided for, new, eco-friendly fuel and energy sources (Economist Piece Here).
Some of the factors contributing to this early growth, and factors that could presumably accelerate that growth in the next couple of years, are fairly well known. Outside of the pain felt by everyone at fuel pumps across the globe, concerns over emissions, pollution, production and supply availability are all combining forces to (finally) coerce the market into a massive shift. One that I would argue the markets and the planet have been in dire need of for many years.
It’s been no secret that I am a tremendously ardent supporter of biofuel development, solar and wind energy, and numerous other promising technologies that could lower the overall cost (both financial and environmental) of energy while meeting or exceeding the growing global demand. And if I were a venture capitalist, you can rest assured that every dime I have would be invested in these new and upcoming energy sources. (This, however, requires capital, of which I have virtually none – the plight of the wishful thinker, I suppose.)
Deeper into the article you’ll find a rather impressive list of high-profile investors who have jumped on the eco-friendly bandwagon, including the founders of Google, Sun Microsystems and PayPal, among others. With high-power names and high-power bankrolls, the future looks increasingly bright (and clear) that we may be able to find and foster several ways to satiate our energy needs without further damage to the planet.
In other earth-lover news, New Scientist magazine had a piece this morning pointing out the massive reduction in fuel consumption that could be had with the development and introduction of hybrid technology in the trucking and transport industries (Hybrid Haulage from New Scientist).
While hybrids for personal and commuter use have exploded in popularity and sales in the last 5 years, the technology has not been properly developed (yet) for long-haul trucking, short-haul delivery or mass transit purposes, where the percentage of fuel saved, and the overall reduction in fuel use, could represent an immense savings. Simply by reducing or eliminating the amount of idling that a single truck does (upwards of 1800 hours per year, according to the article), a hybrid long haul truck could save over 3000 gallons of fuel per year.
That’s 3000 gallons per year for one single truck. Meaning that, were it introduced on a large scale, particularly with large trucking firms and companies that handle their own transit, the monetary savings alone more than offset the cost of implementation, all while improving their social-corporate responsibility standings in the public’s eyes. (Perhaps this is part of the reason why Wal-Mart is in the testing phase with a hybrid truck, and has plans to put at least 20 on the road for them by the end of the year.)
Of course, the main counterpoint to all of the bio-fuel news coming out right now is the prevalence of scare stories regarding the excessive increase in food stock prices, and the weakened supply, as food stuffs (notably corn) are converted to ethanol and other fuel sources.
Brazil seems to have little trouble with balancing their ethanol need and their food crops, as ethanol produced from their domestically-grown sugar cane provides a large percentage of the fuel used in that country each day (not the majority of the overall percentage, mind you, but a large enough portion of the overall consumption to reduce their dependency on imported oil by a whole lot).
Unfortunately for many countries, there are two factors contributing to the excessive impact on food prices. 1) Producing ethanol from corn or soy not only requires more energy, but is overall less efficient in its production than sugar cane, and 2) The rush to develop and produce copious amounts of ethanol immediately has driven crop-pricing speculation through the roof, causing unnecessary increases in food prices.
In answer to this, though, another piece in New Scientist magazine (subscription piece, unfortunately, but presumably available in the current issue on newsstands) addresses new and developing technologies in biofuel that will take the burden off of traditional food crops, thereby allowing the prices to normalize and allowing us to produce fuel without impacting the food supply. (Biofuel Plan B from New Scientist)
I have not read the entire piece, but I have to imagine that at least one of the emerging technologies is the further development of cellulosic ethanol production, using stalks, grasses and weeds (otherwise unusable waste products) to produce ethanol. This process is something I’ve referenced in the past, and I have a link to more information in one of my previous posts (Auto Woes Continued Blog Post from February)
With this new influx of funding, and the natural competition that abounds with companies wanting to be the first out of the gate with new, profitable technology, I can only hope that these developments will continue to accelerate exponentially, to the point where they may only be 2-3 years away from realization.
I hope you’re keeping your fingers crossed with me.
