Bio Fuels

[Garry9999]

Thailand has been producing Bio Fuels for some time now, Bio-diesel & Gasohol.

Is it a good idea to use a food source to fuel vehicles?

[yabaaaa]

Thailand has been producing Bio Fuels for some time now, Bio-diesel & Gasohol.

Is it a good idea to use a food source to fuel vehicles?

no

[Garry9999]

Thailand has been producing Bio Fuels for some time now, Bio-diesel & Gasohol.

Is it a good idea to use a food source to fuel vehicles?

no

Why Not?

[Harcourt]

Thailand has been producing Bio Fuels for some time now, Bio-diesel & Gasohol.

Is it a good idea to use a food source to fuel vehicles?

The question is not whether it is good to use a food source for biofuel, but whether it is good to use arable food-producing land to produce biofuel.

The distinction I make is because there are other biofuel crops that are not food (eg jatropha or algae) that still require land to be grown.

Overall I would say yes to biofuel. But until large Western countries (no name mentioned) stop their subsidies-for-farmers protectionism for their own agriculture, thus producing huge surpluses of food that get dumped, whilst simultaneously stealing oil from Middle East and Afrrican nations, the food shortages in other countries and the demand for biofuels will continue.

[LennyW]

A lot of the Bio-fuel in Thailand comes from sugar cane, look around, where there is a Mitr-phol sugar factory there will be a bio-fuel plant close by.

Since the cane has already been processed for the sugar they are essentially using a waste product to produce the fuel, this is good.

Countries in the west specifically use agricultural land to grow products specifically for bio-fuel, rapeseed etc. that could be used as a food product, this is not so good.

[Gerontion]

If growing the biofuel doesn't replace food crops, and if it doesn't degrade the land, and if it doesn't disrupt the local ecosystem, maybe, yes.

But generally, the question to ask isn't "what type of fuel should we use to do x?" but "do we really need to do x?"

[thunder30101]

Hmmm dont remember any arab complaining about getting his oil stolen, they get paid quite well for every drop !!! And hel_l yeah I want subsidies in my home country for my farmers, bad enough we have shipped every other job overseas I dont want to be dependant on someone else to eat too. But the problem with biofuels like everything else it is a finite resource, and it consumes vast quantities of other resources to produce including power, water, land, and fertilisers , just show me a goverment that is not subsidising the cost to produce it. Bring on the electric cars, just someone tell me where we are going to get all that electricity to run them lol.