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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Death penalty, the homicide rate in Canada had reached a 15 year low” (Ross). Evidence beyond American borders certainly suggests that capital punishment harms society rather than helps it.Another solution lies in laboratories where scientists work diligently to create a cost-efficient ethanol product from a cellulosic source. Because cellulosic ethanol originates from indigestible plant fibers found in switchgrass, sawdust, and any leftover plant matter including agricultural waste, it does not take away from a possible food source (Lashinsky 6). Vinod Khosla, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, believes that without using more land or lowering food production, the U.S. can produce enough ethanol to replace the majority of petroleum used in small vehicles (Lashinsky 2). Scientists use enzymes to break down the cellulose in plant matter to turn it into a glucose that can then be fermented into ethanol. As of now, the best enzyme comes from a genetically-altered Trichoderma Reesei fungus (Lashinsky 9). This superior enzyme makes it possible to break down the pulpy matter called lignin that holds the plant stalks up. The process to make cellulosic ethanol proves expensive, thus creating a difficult task to overcome. In order for ethanol to ascend, the production price must be competitive to that of gasoline. The U.S. Department of Energy has been able to reduce the predicted cost of ethanol from biomass to 1.22 dollars per gallon and could lower still to 0.86 cents per gallon if a zero cost feedstock is reached (Bourne). Environmentally, however, cellulosic ethanol leads the way by helping to reduce carbon emissions. By using switchgrass to fabricate fuel, the government could reduce the amount of new carbon being put into the atmosphere as well as reduce the amount of old carbon in the atmosphere, potentially reducing global warming. The carbon from ethanol has been in the atmosphere recently; therefore, it does not contribute to global warming. In this sense ethanol does not add additional carbon to the atmosphere but recycles carbon already in the air. The majority of the carbon absorbed by switchgrass lies within the root system being left in the ground during harvest, which makes the carbon returned to the atmosphere a smaller amount than that confiscated from the air (“Unseen Benefits of Switchgrass”). Facts prove cellulosic by far the best choice for the environment, but the high cost of production keeps the idea not ready for production yet.(from Ms. Dinkenor, 2016)
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