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Davis 1
Bradley Davis
English 1100
Professor Watson
29 October 2018
Biofuels in the Racing Industry
In this paper we will being talking about biofuels and if they should or should not be used
in the racing industry. Also, we will talk about how biofuels affect the cars, the land use of
making biofuels and the cost of some biofuels out in the world today. What are biofuels exactly
though, the definition says fuel derived directly from living matter or in another way of saying it
is that biofuels are made from a renewable energy source, like corn or soybeans. The racing
industry should use biofuels because biofuels are better for the earth and if they start to use
biofuels then hopefully the rest of the world will use them too. The question that we want to
answer is if the racing industry should use biofuels?
One of the reasons why the racing industry should use biofuels is the low emission that
the vehicle puts off. The motorcycle industry which is working on the first zero-emission
motorcycle race which is called the TTxGp said in the article “Racing Green” by Jon Excell.
Also, the Dutch, are working on a fuel cell powered Go-kart that later turned into a full-scale
formula racing competition that has helped the Dutch entrepreneurs by a magazine called
“Racing Green” by Jon Excell. So, it shows how more people are taking more interest in the use
of biofuels because they can start a company from fuel cells for Go-karts to a formula one racing
company and people are not just thinking about cars in the world but also the racing world. Also,
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if we can get more of these companies in the racing industry it could have a big impact on the
world and the environment around us.
The first reason why the racing industry should use biofuels is biofuels have been shown
to help the cars out in races like in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, more
commonly known as NASCAR. In the article called “Biofuels power NASCAR” by Chelsea
Saunders, it talks about how the way biofuels or Ethanol fuel, called Sunoco Green E15, has
helped the cars by having lower emissions. Also, it has helped in the best way for NASCAR and
what they are known for is the horsepower in their cars that the e15 has increased horsepower.
This is good because with the lower emissions the cars are putting off means that less gas is
getting put into the world and it helps the earth. With the increase in the horsepower, it shows
that if you what more horsepower that biofuels will not take that way from the cars. Also, the
way the biofuels have impacted the racing industry is that it helped boost one of the larger
recycling programs in the sports world. They also have made the largest solar power sports
building called Pocono Raceway. Lastly, they also have made a huge tree program to help lower
the co2 emissions of all the racing in the world.
Here is a picture that shows the biofuels lifecycle. In this picture, you can see some of the
plants that are used in biofuels, like corn and sugar cane. This picture helps to prove the point
that biofuels should be used in the racing industry and even in the world today because it shows
just plants being used and not equipment being used to drill holes in the ground to get the fossil
fuels that we use today.
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One of the ways that biofuels are bad is the use of biofuels in their vehicle is putting
some countries that are in food scarce areas into more of a food-scarce problem. In the book
called “Biofuels and Food Security Biofuel Impact on Food Security in Brazil, Asia and Major
Producing Countries” by Tatsuji Koizumi, it brings up that the USA uses about 20% of the
soybean oils to make biofuels, commonly known as biodiesel and how the increase of the
biodiesel in the USA could affect the markets around the world. How it could affect the world’s
market is by one country being able to get more of the resource they need for the items they are
making but the only way of getting the exact resource is to take some of the other country’s
resources that they need to live on or to help make things in that country better.
Another reason why biofuels should be used in the racing industry is it helps with
lowering emissions of co2. Here is a test that was done to help showcase the lowering of co2
emission “Probabilistic modeling indicated a CO2 reduction for E85 as a fuel of 30% (95%
credibility interval=10–52%) in the same order as the 20% given by the Swedish Transport
Administration. The best estimate of 28% decrease for gas cars (95% credibility interval=3–
44%) and is lower than the originally proposed reduction of 42%, but still within a similar range”
(Lubbe, Sahlin). This shows how important the use of biofuels is in the world. If everyone can
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start to do this then the world will become a better place for everyone to live and the air, we
breath will be better too. This also helps prove the point of why biofuels should be using it the
world of racing and in everyone’s car.
Another reason why biofuels should be used in the racing industry is that it will help your
car or even your truck get miles per gallon increase over your vehicle on gasoline. If you look at
what biodiesel has done for trucks it has “had a 5 to 8 percent increase in miles-per-gallon.”
(Perritano) With this being said, if you could get an increase like this on your car’s miles per
gallon and it could save you some money. I do not see why you would not want to switch to
using biofuels. Once we find a way to make biofuels affordable to everyone, I believe that more
people and companies will be switching so we can all save money.
Another reason why biofuels should be used in the racing industry is that it has helped a
town to become a global biofuel powerhouse. The town is called Sertaozinho which is in Brazil.
The way it has become one of the powerhouses is by “For decades the vast green fields of this
region, were one of the world's top sugar producing hubs, catering to increasingly sweet tooth of
global consumers.” (Gallas) With them becoming one of the powerhouses of biofuel by growing
plants for biofuels use they have not had enough people for the jobs to be filled. But one of the
problems the town of Sertaozinho is having now is with the prices of gas going down has made
them have to stop work on biofuels because people are not buying the fuel as much as they did
before. Other than that, the country of Brazil has one of the most advanced green car programs in
the world. They are also known for having one of the biggest fuel flex car industry in the world.
They use sugarcane to make the biofuels which is a sugarcane-based ethanol. Here is a picture of
the plant called sugar cane.
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Another reason why biofuels should not be used in racing is that the land that is required
for making the biofuels. Some of the land, that is used to produce ethanol that is used in biofuels,
is becoming more in need and that is from land that is helpful to the earth and the animals that
live on it. “Converting corn to ethanol in Iowa not only leads to clearing more of the Amazonian
rainforest, but researchers also report in a pair of new studies in Science” (Biello). What this
shows is that we are wrong about what goes in the car and what goes in the land that we are
using and where we are putting it. Also, with the cutting cut down of the trees that leads to more
carbon being put out and the biofuels foods that we plant in their places are not able to hold as
much carbon dioxide that the trees were able to hold. When you look at a tree, half of the dry
weight is carbon. The food that we are planting to use for biofuels may have a different carbon
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output than the plants that are there now. With the change from grasslands to corn ethanol, there
has been a higher greenhouse gas of 134 metric tons of CO2 per hectare that will take us a very
long time to repay with the use of corn ethanol.
Another way biofuel is bad is, some of the biofuels that are out there are expensive and
yes some are not that expensive, but it will make a difference in what the racer or race industry
wants to use. For example, the Navy was using biofuels that was costing them an arm and a leg
per gallon. There the cost of it “according to Meg Cichon, the U.S. Nary was paying almost $428
a gallon for biofuels… congress has actually taken steps to see that the Military does not use
biofuels” (The Racing Industry and Bio-fuels). By that, it shows that yes, we can use biofuels if
you want to, but they could cost a lot just for a little bit of it which is good for the earth but not a
lot of people are going to be able to pay as high of a price. So, until they get lower in the price
we will not be seeing biofuels in everyday living and even in the racing industry unless they are
able to make their own biofuels at a cheaper price.
Another reason why biofuels are bad is how we produce the plants for the biofuels, like
how we use water. What it means by water is that with the more demand for biofuels could put
more demand on water and could be a problem for places with little water sources. If you look at
“A 2009 study it suggests that, in the rush to produce enough corn-based ethanol to meet federal
alternative energy requirements, biofuel demand is already putting stress on fresh water in the
Great Plains and central Southwest” (Cunningham). What this is saying is that places with low
water sources are already in trouble with water and with the biofuel farms in those areas, it is
putting more stress on the water source. Also, it will affect how people use water and how the
government regulates water use. The places around it could not be getting the full amount of
water that it needs to live, like the animals, plants, and trees that are there already.
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Another way that biofuels are bad is because of the use of fertilizer. A lot of farmers use
fertilizer on the plants to keep the insects off the food, so they will have more of it to use and
sell. This means with more biofuel farms being out there the more fertilizer is being used. The
information gives us, it should make you think about how many biofuels farms we have in one
area and what we are putting on them. What it means by fertilizer is that yes, the food for
biofuels will grow better with it but the effect it has on the land around it is harmful. The use of
fertilizer can affect the water source and the land if you use a lot of the fertilizer. It could affect
the water source when it rains and because a lot of fertilizer could run down the hill and get into
the water and the chemicals would affect animals and even people. One of the chemicals in
fertilizer is nitrogen “Nitrogen in drinking water can lead to a host of health problems, including
methemoglobinemia, a condition that prevents infants from utilizing the oxygen in their blood”
(Cunningham). As the need for biofuels increase it will hurt us, more then people think, because
the chemicals from the fertilizer will be getting into the drinking water.
Another reason why biofuels are bad for the racing industry is that the use of
monoculture which is the way you use the land for farming of one plant and you do not rotation
the plants. This way is good because it makes the corn more profitable for the people that are
farming it, but it does not help the land out. What we mean by monoculture is not good for the
land is because this way does not put the nutrients back into the land that the land needs to live
off. So, if we want to use biofuels we should not be doing the monoculture way but if we must
only do it off like 2 to 5 years and then start to do the plant rotation to help get the land back to
good health so then you can do the monoculture again.
The racing industry should use biofuels because it will set an example for people and
other industries to follow. A lot of people look up to the drivers and NASCAR teams to see what
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they eat, drink, and wear so this will be something that fans will try if it makes the racing cars
and motorcycles perform better. A lot of money is spent on looking and acting like the drivers
so if they can endorse a Biofuel company then more people will want to use that product. If the
air is cleaner by using biofuels it may not affect the health of the fans that go to the races which
will be better for everyone.
In conclusion, we are trying to find out if biofuels should be used in the racing industry.
And yes, biofuels should be used in the racing industry. We have found out that biofuels have
increased the horsepower in the cars and have put out lower emissions in the atmosphere. Also,
we talked about how biofuels can get expensive for individuals and small companies but some of
the larger companies are able to afford it and could help make the prices lower for biofuels. We
found out that a lot of the racing industry is already starting to change over to the use of biofuels
in their vehicles and have shown how it has helped the cars. We stated that we need to watch the
way we produce the biofuels and how we should not use as much fertilizer on the food that goes
into biofuels. In the end, if we can start to get everyone on board with biofuels then the world
will be a better place. To sum it all up, we learned why biofuels are an important part of the
world and how they have helped the racing industry and why they should be use in the racing
industry and in everyday life. We have also learned that the racing industry is already testing
biofuels and have found that it is better for the cars, the fans, and the environment, which is a
winning situation for everyone.
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Work Cited
Cunningham, Matt, “10 Disadvantages of Biofuels.” HowStuffWorks.com, 19 January 2011.
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/biofuels/10-disadvantages-of-
biofuels.htm 22 Oct. 2018
Excell, Jon, Racing Green, Wright State University library, Centaur Publishing, Ltd, Engineer
(00137758); 9/21/2009, Vol. 294, p18-21, 4p, Accessed 21 Oct. 2018.
Gallas, Daniel, “Brazil’s biofuel industry finds new sweetspot.” BBC NEWS, 23 June, 2018,
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-33114119. Accessed 16 Nov. 2018.
Koizumi, Tatsuji. Biofuels and Food Security: Biofuel Impact on Food Security in Brazil, Asia
and Major Producing Countries. Cham: Springer, [2014], 2014. EBSCOhost,
ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=cat01902a&AN=wsu.b3806758&site=eds-live. 20 Oct. 20181
Lubbe, Nils, and Ullrika Sahlin. “Benefits of Biofuels in Sweden: A Probabilistic Re-Assessment
of the Index of New Cars’ Climate Impact.” Applied Energy, vol. 92, Jan. 2012, pp. 473–
479. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.11.006. 20 Oct. 2018
Metamorworks. Biofuel life cycle, Biomass ethanol from corn, sugarcane, wood, diagram
illustration. Shutter Stock, https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/biofuel-life-cycle-
biomass-ethanol-corn-392427910?src=ErnUW97ytWhLlrSPTYRfmw-2-95. 30 Oct.
2018
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Perritano, John. "Top 10 Advantages of Biofuels" 12 January 2011. HowStuffWorks.com.
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/biofuels/10-advantages-of-biofuels.htm, 5
November 201
Saunders, Chelsea. “Biofuels Power NASCAR.” NASCAR GREEN,
https://green.nascar.com/news-media/biofuel-powers-nascar/, 30 Oct. 2018
“The Racing Industry: Biofuels Are Not the Way to Go,” The Racing Industry and Bio-fuels.
https://racingindustries.weebly.com/english-essay-the-racing-industry-biofuels-are-not-
the-way-to-go.html. 17 Oct. 2018
Wang, John. “China, Guilin, sugarcane field with mountains in background.” Gettyimages,
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/china-guilin-sugarcane-field-with-mountains-
in-royalty-free-image/75904248. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018. Picture.
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