Global Warming and
Biofuels
Biofuels - using fuels generated from crops and plant matter
- have been proclaimed as a way to reduce greenhouse gases ... But do they
really help?
Two recent studies published in Science magazine, in February
2008, reveal serious problems about that scenario.
The first study looked at the amount of greenhouse gases
produced when crops are grown for biofuel production. In particular US farmers
have started growing corn for this purpose. There is a significant greenhouse
gas cost in transport, agricultural production and manufacture.
These greenhouse gas emissions need to be added into the equation to
compare the relative effect on greenhouse gas emissions.
The second study
looked at what sort of material the biofuel is produced from. The researchers
found that if the biofuels are produced by converting "rainforests, peatlands,
savannas,or grasslands to produce food crop–based biofuels inBrazil, Southeast Asia, and the
United
States" that this creates "a 'biofuel carbon debt' by releasing 17
to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions
that these biofuels would provide by displacing fossil fuels." They note that
"In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on degraded
and abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no
carbon debt and can offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages."
Details of
studies below.
Professor John Beddington, the UK Chief
Scientist, recently noted that, if farmers change their
current food production in order to grow crops for biofuels, this
will cause huge problems in the provision of food and that this will be a
major problem around the world long before 'climate change' is a
problem.
Food crisis will take hold before climate change, warns
chief scientist
The
Guardian, 7 March 2008
Professor John Beddington
said ""There is progress on climate change. But out there is another major
problem. It is very hard to imagine how we can see a world growing enough crops
to produce renewable energy and at the same time meet the enormous increase in
the demand for food which is quite properly going to happen as we alleviate
poverty."
The two recent studies in
Science on Biofuel crops...
Biofuel
crops 'increase' greenhouse, says report
The Age,
February 9, 2008
"GROWING crops to produce biofuels — seen as part of the
solution to global warming — is actually increasing greenhouse gas emissions,
scientists report.
Two separate
US studies,
published in the journal Science, show that changes to land use
associated with growing food-based biofuels produce the greatest source of
emissions..."
Use of
U.S.
Croplands
for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use
Change
Study published in Science, 29 Feb
2008.
Abstract: "Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for
gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through
the growth of the feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon
emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert
forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted
to biofuels. By using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from
land-use change, we found that corn-based ethanol,instead of producing a 20%
savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases
greenhouse gases for 167years. Biofuels from switch grass, if grown on
U.S.
corn
lands,increase emissions by 50%. This result raises concerns about large biofuel
mandates and highlights the value of using waste products."
Land
Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt
Science 29 Feb 2008.
".... Increasing
energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from
fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a
potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings
depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas,or
grasslands to produce food crop–based biofuels in
Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the
United
States
creates a "biofuel carbon debt" by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2
than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions that these biofuels would
provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste
biomass or from biomass grown on degraded and abandoned agricultural lands
planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and can offer immediate
and sustained GHG advantages...."
More Articles on biofuels
and the food crisis
U.N.
Chief to Prod Nations On Food Crisis
Washington Post Staff Writer,
By Colum
Lynch Monday, June 2, 2008
“UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon will issue an urgent plea to world leaders at a food summit in Rome
on Tuesday to immediately suspend trade restrictions, agricultural taxes and
other price controls that have helped fuel the highest food prices in 30 years,
according to U.N.
officials.
Ban is seeking to prod more than two dozen nations that have
imposed such measures in the current crisis to reverse course, saying their
actions have driven prices higher. The United Nations will also urge the
United
States and other nations to consider phasing
out subsidies for food-based biofuels -- such as ethanol -- and to hammer out a
pact with poor countries that would reduce agricultural tariffs and subsidies
that have harmed poor farmers. . . "
* Full Series:
Global Food Crisis (Washington Post) Author: Jenny Stokes | Modified: 9 June 2008 |
