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Better biofuels before more biofuels
Alexander E. Farrell, San Francisco Chronicle
It’s all about the land, not the crops. While California and the nation pursue biofuels for energy security and climate change, we must ensure that cleaner technologies are the result, not irreversible damages.
New research suggests that corn ethanol may have greenhouse gas emissions nearly double the emissions of gasoline. The reason is that the way we make biofuels today increases the global demand for land and accelerates the clearance of wilderness for new farms.
For example, if a farmer in the United States shifts from a corn/soybean rotation to continuous corn in order to supply a new ethanol facility, U.S. exports of soybeans go down. This causes the global price of soybeans to go up slightly, and farmers worldwide will find it profitable to clear a little more land to grow soybeans. Of course, population growth and greater meat consumption are also causing land clearance for new farmland, but increasing production of biofuels accelerates the process.
Unfortunately, farmland expansion today often means clearing rainforest: burning the trees, releasing carbon dioxide from the soil into the atmosphere, and losing biodiversity.
This not about corn or sugarcane, or even switchgrass; the key idea is that climate-friendly biofuels should not use fertile land.
Alexander E. Farrell is an associate professor of energy and resources at UC Berkeley.
(13 February 2008)
RFA’s Bob Dinneen discusses renewable fuels standard, new report on viability of biofuels (video)
Monica Trauzzi, E&E TV
Last year, the president signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 into law, implementing an expanded renewable fuels standard along with several other energy provisions.
During today’s OnPoint, Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association discusses the new RFS, and comments on current Hill discussions to rework some technical points of the RFS. Dinneen also gives his views on a new study focusing on the negative effects of biofuels production, including deforestation and increased emissions.
(14 February 2008)
Not surprisingly, Mr. Dinneen scrambles to do damage-control. His main point is that biofuels is a better alternative than fossil fuels, but that it should be done correctly. He’s an articulate PR spokesperson but biofuels is becoming an increasingly hard case to make. -BA
