Development of Transportation Bio-energy and Its Future

Negative environmental consequences of fossil fuels and the concerns about their soaring prices have spurred the search for alternative energy sources. While other alternative energies - like solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and tidal - offer viable options for electricity generation, around 40% of total energy consumption requires liquid fuels like gasoline or diesel fuel. This is where bio-energy/biofuels is especially attractive, where they can serve as a practical alternative to oil. The production of liquid biofuels for transportation will depend upon a stable supply of large amount of inexpensive cellulosic biomass obtained on a sustainable basis. This paper reviewed development status of transportation bio-energy for vehicles, technical barriers to the production of cellulosic ethanol, and the global future of bio-diesel and ethanol production.