Soy biodiesel is an excellent way to reduce the current expenditure of limited natural resources such as petroleum. Soybeans grow quickly within six months (80-120 days) from sow to harvest and one bushel can produce 1.4 gallons of soy biodiesel.
Soy biodiesel in Iowa is beginning to really propel the local farming community and help reduce the dependence on foreign petroleum products.
When people think of renewable energy sources, biodiesel is one of the first alternatives in their minds for replacing the current demand on the petroleum industry.
And to that thought as early as 1993 the US industry has been investing in soy biodiesel.
But is soy biodiesel the one and only answer? No, not THE answer, but certainly a big PART of the answer.
At the moment our world has grown far too big to be run only on soy biodiesel. For instance, if the United States were to rely purely on the internal production of soy biodiesel to meet current oil demands, the country would need a landmass twice the current size of the continental US alone.
And that makes the production of soybeans just for biodiesel alone, a task with dynamic economical and political repercussions to say the least.
With soybean production, people can have a variety of food products replaced and/or enhanced for a healthier diet, making for big competition with the oil industry.
The basic question with soy biodiesel is the same question that inflicts most biodiesel products derived from consumables; should we eat it or put it in the gas tank?
Obviously at the moment it IS possible to use soy biodiesel to reduce the harsher impacts on the American economy with a blending of only 2%, but it cant be the end all solution.
For one, oil is a very limited resource and two, the more we blend into the gas tank the more acres we will need to plant.
If current engine designs were to adapt to higher blends, the U.S. would not be able to sustain such a market on the current internal production of soybeans alone. And would indefinitely rely once again on foreign supply, this time however it would be vegetable fuels rather that fossil fuels.
Political and economical situations can change radically with more investment in soy biodiesel, and that is a positive step in progress.
The opposition to this however comes mostly from environmentalist groups that fear the agricultural sector is not prepared to embody safe and sustainable practices in the cultivation of new crops such as soybeans.
Sure enough, in the planting of coffee, sugar cane and cotton, the world has seen large environmental disasters from unsustainable agriculture.
While the level of disasters has slowed somewhat, crops that pose or have posed political and economical worldwide influences such as those that cotton, coffee and sugar all once did, also tend to draw farmers out of the woodwork.
This doesnt mean that they are not prepared to be farmers, but rather not prepared for the global demand, that requires sustainable practices, especially when the crops are to become fuel integrants, such as soy biodiesel blends.
Environmentalist however are less worried about the developed countries planting soybeans for biodiesel than they are undeveloped countries like Brazil, where unfortunately, the majority of the farming community never gets past the fourth grade.
The current threat posed by transgenic soybean production in Brazil is a perfect example of what environmentalist fear.
In the worst case scenario for example, people would over-cut and abuse such vast regions of millions of year old rainforest space just to produce soybeans, that the disaster would effect the whole world through irreparable global warming.
Some theorists however have conjectured that for higher sustainability in agriculture, architectures vast experience in verticalization would be a great benefit to crop production.
Anybody that grows tomatoes, knows how valuable a good verticalized structure can be when you have limited space in the back yard and are looking for healthier fruits, but what about soybeans?
Could 50 story cylinder towers of circular planters provide a suitable and sustainable bedding for the long term harvesting of soybeans? Or would the shadow cast ruin the developing potential of land, around the cylinder?
Those just might be the kinds of sci-fi questions agricultures might need to make when confronting the sustained demand for 200 million gallons of biodiesel that will raise the price of soybeans by 17 cents per bushel very soon.
For instance, at those estimates, 200 acres of soybeans at current prices would provide an additional US $1,530 to the current established price table, while 4,000 would provide an additional US $30,600.
Excellent incentives for finding more crop space for certain. And the demand will have a tendency to only increase, as distributors and gas stations hop on the soy biodiesel bandwagon that has already taken hold of Iowa.
In more than 45 different counties in Iowa alone, anyone looking for a soy biodiesel gas station will find one. In the continental US there is not a single state that doesnt have at least one single dealer that offers biodiesel.
The Midwest currently has hold of this trend in the US, but the trend is growing and for good reason.
Soy biodiesel has exceptional lubricity with only 2% additive it increases lubricity by 66%.
By using soy biodiesel, all fuel-injected diesel engines reduce friction enormously extending equipment lifespan tremendously.
The biodiesel derived from 100% virgin soybean oil in the 2% blend meets ASTM standards and has been tested by Standyne Automotive Corp. proving 100% safe for the engine and beneficial.
Forty million on-road tests have shown that by using the no more than a 2% blend of soy biodiesel to current petrol-diesel products on the market, all U.S. on-road diesel engines would be sustained by only 500 million bushels of soybeans, almost all of Iowas current annual crop.
