Contrary to popular thought, biofuels are not new scientific and technological innovations. They were around since the discovery of the automobile. Henry Ford’s Model Ts were planned to run on ethanol. This was as early as the beginning of the 20th century. The first diesel engines were said to be fueled on peanut oil.

Gasoline and diesel, both ancient biofuels, are more widely classified as fossil fuels only because they were formed from decomposed matter buried in the ground for millennia. Biofuels have the same formation, only they are formulated at current time. Another important information is the fact that much of US gasoline is blended with ethanol, a biofuel. Biofuel has been known to be used around the globe for quite some time now. Brazil has been making ethanol out of sugarcane for decades. Biodiesel, made from palm oil, is widely available in Europe and Asia.

Petroleum, however, has become the popular fuel of choice because of the discovery of huge deposits of this fossil fuel. It has also been the center of much political power play for many years. Petro-dollars are known to sway political power and influence. In the process, biofuels have been relegated to the sidelines. With the recent rise in oil prices, brought about by the power play that oil has produced, the world turns back to biofuels, the erstwhile lowly alternative that may just be the savior of planet Earth right now.

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Via National Geographic