You are on page 1of 1

William Landa Noblet NSCI 300 section 1 November 27, 2011 Science and Technology paper: The Alternative

fuel Biogas The search for viable replacements of fossil fuels is ubiquitous in the news, journals, and other publications seen by the public eye. Many alternatives to oil based energy have been suggested such as solar, wind, nuclear power, and various other gases and materials. One technology that would be considered new green power to the average person is biofuel, more specifically hydrogen and methane released from bacterial breakdown of organic materials. This biofuel has actually been used for thousands of years and is even being produced right now in trash bins around the world. Methane production by bacterial fermenting is actually being implemented in many countries as we speak; China and India are already leading the pack by implementing the most biogas plants compared to other countries. Bacteria, similar to all other living organisms, need energy to live, function, and create other bacteria. Thus, bacteria must have a metabolic pathway that takes in raw material, organic or otherwise, breaks the raw material down and in the process creates energy for the organism to function and a byproduct or waste. Part of the human metabolic process releases carbon dioxide as a waste product. The bacteria that produce biogas are subjected to an anaerobic pathway, given plenty of organic material, and kept at a certain temperature in order to produce methane as a byproduct. The byproduct methane, and in some cases hydrogen, is used as an energy source by the people producing the biogas. This process is cheap, destroys waste, and even creates fertilizer that can be used by farmers that utilize the biogas process. Another bonus that biogas offers is that it does not pollute and is not harmful to the environment considering that this process is naturally occurring. Unfortunately, biogas is not utilized very heavily in the United States. The article states that since biogas has so many functions, it is hard to implement a biogas program. A biogas program would require the cooperation of too many utility providers and it is impractical for these providers to work together. Another possible block of biogas usage is the tough economic times; farmers do not have the money to start investing in new technologies that radically change the way farms are structured. Since the modern technology of today is so dependent on fossil fuels, changeover to alternate fuels is an economically tough one. However, with increasing awareness of environmental damage due to the heavy use of fossil fuels alternatives are being heavily researched. Governmental restrictions and public demands will soon help to phase out the usage of fossil fuels, and alternatives such as biogas will be given much more attention. The commercial usage of gasoline and oil based products has had a very profound impact on the economy and environment, but in retrospect will only seem like a small blip in technological history.

You might also like