Microbes in Your Car
A better ethanol
In the past ten years, biotechnology has become a very popular concept. The prominence of biotechnology stems from public concern about our unhealthy addiction on fossil fuels. Cars and SUVs today consume a great deal of gasoline and automakers have come to realize consumers are in the market for energy-efficient vehicles.
Alternatives have become available. Hybrid automobiles, ethanol, and other feul alternatives will continue to advance over the next few years.
Ethanol is the fastest growing fuel alternative, but, until recently, ethanol has been difficult and expensive to produce. Scientists at the Natural Resource Defense Council believe using microbes may solve the current production problems that plague ethanol production.
Using microbes may even solve a growing dilemma over the current ethanol manufacturing process, which relies almost exclusively on corn kernals and yielded only 4 billion gallons of ethanol last year (compared to the 140 billion gallons of gasoline used in the U.S.). There’s growing concern throughout the Midwestern corn belt that the 95 U.S. ethanol plants are increasingly poaching corn meant for the dinner table or livestock feed.
Hopefully, as technology advances, Americans will abandon their addiction on oil and gasoline altogether.
See Also
- AutoWarranties.com
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