Energy decline will soon challenge just about every common notion of life that we have developed and cherished during the industrial era. Most of what we have built in the globalizing world of the last century depends on cheap energy, particularly the finite fossil fuels of oil, natural gas and coal.

Data sources including EIA, IEA, US Census Bureau, HYDE database and various industry sources conclude that in 2007, estimated total global energy availability is 532 quads (quadrillion btu’s) with finite fuels to provide 83.3% (estimated contribution to be Oil 32.9%, Coal 23.9%, Natural Gas 21.1% and nuclear 5.4%) of the world’s total energy needs, with the remainder coming from hydro and traditional biomass. Major available reserves of energy are finite and fast diminishing with the need for practical cost-effective solutions imminent.

Two powerful forces; one the inevitable end of finite fossil fuels, and the other the imperative of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, will create massive demand for alternative, renewable energy sources. The principal renewable and acceptable alternatives include wind, hydro, photovoltaic, geothermal, tidal and biomass. Energy generated from these sources generally feeds into electricity grids and thus fails to provide a direct solution to the need for liquid fuels. Biomass is the exception in that it can be used as a means of producing liquid fuels with the all-important “transportability” factors and with energy capacities approaching those of oil, gas and coal.

In the EU, legislation is already in place to mitigate this by increasing the proportion of Biodiesel in Europe's transport energy mix. The EU bio fuels directive requires a minimum level of bio fuels as a proportion of fuels sold in the EU of 2% by 2005, 5.75% by 2010 and 20% by 2020. The main green fuels will be ethanol and Biodiesel, and demand for Biodiesel is expected to be up to 10.5 billion litres by 2010.

While combustion of any fuel releases CO2 into the atmosphere, Biodiesel produces lower emissions than mineral diesel. Furthermore, because it comes from crops that absorb CO2 as they grow, bio diesel’s overall contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is extremely low. A 1998 Biodiesel lifecycle study, jointly sponsored by the US Department of Energy (USDE) (www.energy.gov) and the US Department of Agriculture (www.usda.gov), concluded that pure B100 Biodiesel reduces net CO2 emissions by 100 percent compared to petroleum diesel. With a B20 mix (a 20% biodiesel solution) the net CO2 emissions are reduced by 20%. Compared with mineral diesel, Biodiesel reduces particle emissions (PM) by 30%, carbon monoxide (CO), which affects air quality and human health, by 50%, and sulphur dioxide by 50%. Unlike mineral diesel, biodiesel is non-toxic and is biodegradable.

All biofuels are derived from the biomass of plants which receive their energy from the sun, and use the photosynthetic process to convert it and store it as sugar, starch or oil. The reversal of this process is the appealing sustainable energy solution whereby the sugars, starches and oils are converted back to useable energy as some form of biofuel. Bio mass is a function of solar energy which is at a maximum in the tropics and is evidenced in increased plant yields. This has resulted in the tropic and sub-tropical regions being designated as the “bio mass zone”. This bio mass zone is becoming increasingly strategic as food and biofuels compete for the same plots of land.

The maximum yields achieved from OST’s in the bio mass zone make it difficult to economically justify biofuels being sourced from cool climate crops. Biofuels, particularly biodiesel, produced from OST’s grown in the bio mass zone are being recognized as having the capability of providing the ultimate in bio mass derived energy. The biomass zone provides a literal Pandora’s Box of energy opportunities as the “generations” of new biomass derived fuels emerge.