Bio-diesel is the most valuable form of renewable energy that can be used directly in any existing, unmodified diesel engine.
- Energy Independence : Considering that oil priced at $ 60 per barrel has had a disproportionate impact on the poorest countries, 38 of which are net importers and 25 of Which import all of their oil; the question of trying to achieve greater energy independence one day through the development of bio-fuels has become one of ‘when’ rather than ‘if,’ and, now on a near daily basis, a bio-fuels programme is being launched somewhere in the developing world.
- Smaller Trade Deficit : Rather than importing other countries’ ancient natural resources, we could be using our own living resources to power our development and enhance our economies. Instead of looking to the Mid-east for oil, the world could look to the tropics for bio-fuels. producing more bio-fuels will save foreign exchange and reduce energy expenditures and allow developing countries to put more of their resources into health, education and other services for their neediest citizens.
- Economic Growth : Bio-fuels create new markets for agricultural products and stimulate rural development because bio-fuels are generated from crops; they hold enormous potential for farmers. In the near future—especially for the two-thirds of the people in the developing world who derive their incomes from agriculture.
Today, many of these farmers are too small to compete in the global market, especially with the playing field tilted against them through trade distorting agricultural subsidies. They are mostly subsistence farmers who, in a good year, produce enough to feed their families, and in a bad year, grow even poorer or starve. But bio-fuels have enormous potential to change this situation for the better.
At the community level, farmers that produce dedicated energy crops can grow their incomes and grow their own supply of affordable and reliable energy.At the national level, producing more bio-fuels will generate new industries, new Technocrats, new jobs and new markets.
- Cleaner Air : Bio-fuels burn more cleanly than gasoline and diesel. Using biofuels means producing fewer emissions of carbon monoxide, particulates, and toxic chemicals that cause smog, aggravate respiratory and heart disease, and contribute to thousands of premature deaths each year.
- Less Global Warming : Bio-fuels contain carbon that was taken out of the atmosphere by plants and trees as they grew. The Fossil fuels are adding huge amounts of stored carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere, where it traps the Earth's heat like a heavy blanket and causes the world to warm. Studies show that bio-diesel reduces CO2 emissions to a considerable extent and in some cases all most nearly to zero.
