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What Teens Say...
Name: Lauren Griffiths
Essay Theme: Alternative Fuel Research |
State: Arizona
School: Ira A. Murphy Elementary |
Bioengineering Agriculture
for a Brighter Future |
With advances in bioengineering, we now have the ability to
utilize the true potential of our agriculture. Bioengineers
have shown that agriculture has much more value than food alone.
Chemicals, fuels, and industrial materials can all be refined
from our bountiful crops. "Whole Crop Utilization,"
a term that means using the entire crop including the parts
normally thrown away, means that farmers will soon find many
markets for agricultural products. This includes providing the
raw materials for clean, low-cost energy production.
The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory
(INEEL) has thousands of scientists working on ways to use agriculture
to its potential. Two of the biggest problems we face are air
pollution and dependence on fossil fuels. Bioengineering our
agricultural products can provide a possible solution to both
problems while providing more income to farmers. If we can produce
energy using bioagriculture rather than fossil fuels, we will
reduce the pollution caused by power plants and lessen our need
for fossil fuels.
One example of this is bioengineering crops to produce hydrogen.
Hydrogen gas is a clean-burning fuel that only releases water
as a by-product. It is used to power fuel cells that generate
electricity for all kinds of applications such as electric motors
in cars. It can also be burned to create heat without the harmful
pollution that burning fossil fuels creates. The problem is
that there is no cheap way to produce hydrogen. We usually have
to burn fossil fuels to get electricity, then use electrolysis
to remove the hydrogen from the water, an expensive process.
INEEL
is presently working on a biotechnology process that produces
hydrogen gas from farm crops. There are several methods, with
one using microbes "through action of well-studied anaerobic
metabolic pathways and the hydrogenase enzymes." This means
that special genetically engineered microbes would react with
the harvested crop to release the hydrogen gas from it. This
gas could be stored in tanks and used to power fuel cells or
even power generating plants themselves.
To this point, the largest barrier to developing alternative
fuels from agriculture has been the high cost. This is changing
since the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture have been
pushing this as a real solution to our energy problems. It is
possible that bioenergy from agriculture will become the number
one renewable energy source of the future.
One thing America does well is grow crops. We grow enough food
to feed ourselves many times over. We have the world's most
advanced farming methods, and we have the natural resources
we need. Yet we throw away 350 million tons of useful agricultural
waste each year. It is now time to take advantage of our technology
and realize the full value of agriculture for a brighter tomorrow.
References:
| Biotechnology processes for production of
hydrogen. 2002. |
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<http://www.inel.gov /energy/fossil/hydrogen/bioproduction.shtml> |
| MaryPIRG report targets air pollution from
power plants. 2002. |
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<http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/marypirgjul02.shtml> |
| Morris, D. and I. Ahmed. 1993. Rural development,
biorefineries and the |
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carbohydrate economy. Institute for Local Self-Reliance. |
| Replacing petrochemicals with biochemicals.
1994. |
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<http://www.carbohydrateeconomy.org/library/> |
This essay was part of a 2003 essay contest sponsored by
Council for Agricultural Science & Technology.
Click here to see how essays were
selected.
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