A plant more commonly used in the production of the alcoholic drink tequila could be used as a source of biofuel production without competing with our food crops. These plants are called agave plants; they can produce high yields in extreme conditions. The world is about 20 percent *semi-arid and there are around 200 agave species worldwide, this crop could bring about an energy revolution, say experts. Mexico has 80 million hectacres of arid and semi-arid areas with no productive potential. In this land 5,600 million tons of dry biomass could be obtained from agave. This dry biomass alone is said to be enough to meet the United States' transport fuel needs. When these plants are used to produce tequila sometimes close to 80% of the plant gets thrown away. Felipe Barahona says, "we would be putting to good use the wastes of industries that are already running." This is important because to obtain oil from jatropha or ethanol from sugarcane these plants would have to be farmed, agave can be used because it is already being produced. I think anytime you can use the resources you already have more efficiently you are on the right track to a solution. It would be great if we could use this plant to produce energy because of how easy it is to grow. Apparently, in areas where nothing else will grow the agave plant will. We can really use this to our advantage as more research is done.
*Arid- lack of water
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/tequila-plant-holds-promise-as-arid-biofuel-source.html
This is seriously awesome. I think the government should invest in something like this. If it works and is a good alternative i don't see why we wouldn't use it!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Caitlin. The United States should get some of these plants from Mexico because if we are always trying to make the earth more green, this would be an efficient way to use this resource.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good idea. It would allow us to take advantage of otherwise useless land, and would decrease out dependence on foreign oil.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good thing because it will allow to make gas from something that is renew able at a faster pace.
ReplyDeleteAwesome idea! I agree with Luke. We need to get away from depending on oil for fuel and invest in something more sustainable that we wouldn't need to depend on foreign countries for.
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