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On the surface of things, Bio-fuel sounds awesome. The thought of driving our sugar cane-mobiles to the Service station, and having a little lick of the sweet petrol pump before we are on our way is certaily appealing.

Plant based-fuel contains no lead, is made up of a lot of oxygen and produces much less carbon dioxide. It is a cleaner burning gas and supports the local agricultural industry, whilst lessening the need to import foreign oil.

However, there are more than a few issues with bio-fuels such as ethanol, the least of which is they are less economic and wear out your engine quicker.

Small amounts of ethanol have been added to petrol in Australia for around twenty five years. As in Europe, the use of ethanol and other bio-fuels was originally an agricultural policy. The cane farmers are now quite reliant on their ethanol sold cane to stay afloat. It is now law in Australia that all petrol sold have atleast a 2% ethanol blend.

According to a report in 2007, the production of ethanol is no less harmful to the environment than the use of fossil fuels.
The report points to the use of water and the carbon impact of harvest and production.

Another recent study in the United States from a Professor at Cornell University showed that 71% more energy is required to produce a litre of ethanol than the energy contained in a litre of ethanol. Without government subsidies, it would not be produced.

Ethanol is not the only product that falls in the category of bio-fuel.

Bio-diesel is produced from tallow (animal fat found in cooking oil and soap) and other edible oils. The Australian government subsidises the production of bio-diesel from these means.

This begs the question - Should we be using food for our fuel?

Please let me know your thoughts.