There is a question whether we, as a society, will adopt biodiesel and we need to address a number of complex and sometimes related challenges first. We are restricted by a limited amount of comprehensive data research, but nevertheless many factors are in favour of biodiesel fuel. Only a decade ago, widespread adoption of this alternative seemed less likely, but this is changing very quickly.
We are learning very quickly how our reliance on traditional fossil fuels is likely to cause us great concern in the future. When petroleum is made, greenhouse gases are guaranteed and we now know how this is affecting the planet’s average annual temperature. Climate change is already leading to weather pattern alterations that could potentially cause devastating problems to future generations. Changes must come and we must cut down our reliance on fossil fuels, even though this change is slow to materialise sometimes. Challenges to the very way that we exist are difficult to contemplate and if we must make changes, we prefer to do it without incurring additional economic costs. It seems clear that to adopt alternative ways of producing and using energy will result in competitive disadvantage, if compared to communities or economies that do not.
Environmentalists assure us that unless we act now, harm will become irreversible. Consequently, governments are starting to consider taxation of carbon itself, forcing organisations through market pressures to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and increase their energy efficiency. For biodiesel, this could help to balance the playing field. If traditional petroleum fuels become even more expensive due to carbon related costs, biodiesel fuel will become more palatable.
Society will exert its own pressures and will move toward options that are seen to be far “greener” than they are now. As such, even if biodiesel fuels represent a premium over other fuels and even if they are somewhat more difficult to locate, such a trend may nevertheless push for more adoption. Ways of making biodiesel will be explored and commercial solutions will begin to spring up in more and more places.
Farmers have been worried about declining demand for their products in recent times. These days, homemade biodiesel can be made from vegetable oils and surplus oils, together with animal fats and soybeans, for example could easily provide the raw material needed to produce the fuel. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep the revenues from production and sale of our fuels within our communities and keep them from flooding overseas? It is sobering to realise that by the 2020s, two thirds of fuel purchased revenues could be lost to foreign countries.
Sustainability is going to be a very hot topic during this new decade. The biodiesel industry will be very much to the fore. With so much at stake, not only with respect to the long term financial stability of our country, but also the priceless global sustainability which could be achieved, can any of us really afford to continue to wait until someone in power makes a decision?
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