Secondly, biofuels are more environmentally friendly energy sources when compared to conventional energy sources. As biomass-based energy sources are potentially carbon dioxide neutral and recycle the same carbon atoms in the environment (Demirbas, 2008). That is, the carbon content of the biomass comes from the living organisms, once the carbon content is released into the atmosphere, it will be re-absorbed back by living organism through photosynthesis and hence it forms a carbon cycle with no net release of carbon content to the atmosphere. Moreover, biofuels contain much lower sulphur content than that of petrol and diesel such that the use of biofuel neither leads to air pollution nor global warming.
Thirdly, as a renewable energy, biofuels provide high sustainable energy resources to the society. Since the availability of biomass resources is widely spread, for example, biomass resources can be obtained from food, plant matters, agricultural wastes and living organisms, while these resources are also renewable resources whose rate of production is faster than the rate of consumption, so that the supply of energy is sustained and secured.
However, with promises of the biofuels, there are perils related to the use of biofuels. Since the production of biofuels derived from the biomass resources such as crops and agricultural products which can be the food resources for the public, some argued that with the shortage supply of food in the third world countries, there is no point to burn the food which can be used to relieve the difficult situations faced by the third world. While some may argue the effectiveness of energy consumption by biofuels is low when compared to petrol and diesel.
These arguments are true. However, the advantages of the use of biofuels still overweigh that of the disadvantages as the conventional energy resources will be used up finally, while biofuels are sustainable. To relieve the food shortage issues, more researches have been done to produce biomass from non-food resources such as wood, wastes and dried manure.