Considerations On Biodiesel Are Strongly Fuelling Additional Climate Debate Issues
Despite what by any standards was a setback at Copenhagen, there seems little doubt that a considerable amount of attention is going to be focused on the need for us all to become more sustainable during the new decade. There had been much hope for lasting accord in Denmark, as nations met to discuss a successor to the original Kyoto Protocol. Once again though, politics and domestic interests came to the fore, even though individual countries did promise to take concerted action.
As we go forward, more and more evidence accumulates pointing to how greenhouse gas emissions are causing damage to our environment. We can now see how over 300 years we have disregarded the consequences of excess energy production and how we relied on old fossil fuels. There is no doubt that a lot of harm will ensue unless we change our ways soon.
In Europe, the United Kingdom has taken a lead in introducing a trading scheme to force the largest emitters of greenhouse gases to buy allowances from the government, thus enabling them to emit extra carbon. In these cases, if the companies do not act efficiently, they will incur penalties. Should they not, they will incur penalties. This is just an example of what governments may do as they force our attention toward sustainability.
Pollution can often be traced back to our over-reliance on transportation and our thirst for petro diesel and petroleum to fuel our vehicles. As such, biodiesel fuel is an excellent option and in many cases is much more palatable and can even reduce carbon dioxide related emissions as compared to those conventional gases.
The EPA has recently found that greenhouse gases are a hazard to health under the powers given to them by the Clean Air Act. This may well give rise to further legislation or the application of existing powers to cut back on emissions, including those from our vehicles.
If biodiesel can be shown to be a workable alternative and a solution that has benefits above and beyond carbon emissions, then we could see a concerted increase in the number of facilities making biodiesel, more distribution stations and more people converting to the use of biodiesel for their diesel engine vehicles. This alternative may be used within regular petro diesel engines without any modifications or alterations and can be used within a variety of different strengths or solutions.
Biodiesel is not a new invention, far from it, but has been in the shadows due to what used to be relatively inexpensive costs associated with petroleum or petro diesel and a lack of education and awareness surrounding related carbon emissions. Things have definitely changed though and our society is looking for many alternative options and as such biofuel advocates must bring the discussion levels to the fore. It is time that more people moved from making homemade biodiesel to demanding that the product be made commercially available within their communities.
We now know that if we all make a concerted effort individually toward real change, whether in small things or on a large scale, anything is possible when it comes to global environmental sustainability, for us, and for our future generations.
Tags: bio diesel, biodiesel, diesel, fuel, gasoline
