If you are concerned about the soaring price of oil and the threat to national security resulting from dependency upon imported oil, then biofuels may seem to be a good idea. Relatively cheap bus fares in the future may depend upon whether there is partial or complete electrification of public transit. Some are looking at agricultural sources for a cheap, cleaner alternative to coal as a feedstock for power generation.
Most energy policy analysts. i.e., those not subject to undue influence from the Oily Administration and the COB (Cruise On Booze) crowd, will admit that:
- Corn to ethanol for fuel is dumb
- Clearing rainforest to grow palm oil is dumb
- Growing crops for energy at the expense of our food is dumb.
Chevron Energy Solutions1 is investing in SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cells) technology. More efficient than gas turbines, "SOFCs are around 50-60 percent efficient at converting fuel to electricity. In applications designed to capture and utilize the system's waste heat (co-generation), overall fuel use efficiencies could top 80-85 percent," reports Biopact2.
Gas turbines emit air pollutants such as nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide; SOFCs do not, and they emit far less carbon dioxide. Whether landfill or farm, combustion is how bio-gas now becomes electric power. SOFCs provide an alternative; the question is whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
