Bob Geldof takes a big ol’ swig of biofuel 6

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1. 

   scotq Posted 6:31 am
   18 Feb 2009

   Bad Day for the Developing WorldI was saddened when I saw news of this, because as a child of the Live Aid generation, I was shocked that Sir Bob fell for this.  Did he not do his homework? Did he lose himself in an endless streak of Mondays?  Is he too busy paying attention to his daughter's shenanigans?
   Study after study show that biofuels are a raw deal for the developing world.  Basically we are asking them to destroy their forests and use up their best available arable land for growing food to produce oil so that Westerners can continue their wasteful lifestyles.
   A story on one of the newest studies on this coming out of Stanford University can be found here.
   
   

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2. 

   tdmeeh Posted 6:57 am
   18 Feb 2009

   Enough with the dogmaI am continually frustrated by the attitude that all biofuel schemes are net negative propositions and are thus worthy of ridicule.  Visit the WBM conference website and you will see a substantial showing of algal, cellulosic, and waste stream fuel folks.  In the right context, these technologies represent important wedges in the effort to reduce GHG emissions.

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3. 

   Russ Posted 6:58 am
   18 Feb 2009

   That's unfortunate.Maybe in his old age he thinks he really is that skinhead from The Wall.

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4. 

   MGreen Posted 4:55 am
   19 Feb 2009

   Do your homework people!What saddens me is how often people comment on stories like this with "definitive" information which isn't definitive at all - far from it. Yes, Bob Geldof is probably going to talk about ethanol production in emerging countries, an excellent opportunity for more than 100 countries in the world which currently already grow sugarcane. If they produced ethanol from sugarcane, instead of Europeans doing it from beets and wheat or Americans from corn - in both cases with heavy subsidies, and exported it to developed countries which have no business trying to make inefficient ethanol in the first place, you would certainly have part of a very positive solution for those countries. The point is not all ethanols are created equal, so don't attach your corn or wheat ethanol biases to sugarcane ethanol, which reduces CO2 emissions by 90% (IEA confirmed) compared to gasoline, and yields 9 units of renewable energy per unit of fossil fuel used to make it. Brazil uses 1% of its arable land to produce cane ethanol - enough to replace more than half its gasoline needs. All ethanol is definitely not the same, and Bob Geldof is absolutely right on - nobody needs to be disappointed with him. In fact, you should applaud what he's doing. If more rich countries saw the light, you wouldn't hear about food x fuel any more.
   
    

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5. 

   VCF Posted 9:03 pm
   19 Feb 2009

   Evidently ?Do we actually know what Bob is going to say?  Could it not be the case that he will speak out against biofuels?  Just a suggestion.....

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6. 

   Tom Philpott Posted 1:07 am
   20 Feb 2009

   Unfortunately, VCF ...... Sir Bob will be pumping biofuels. From Biofuels Digest: http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/tag/africa/
   
   Sir Bob Geldof to keynote World Biofuels Markets; will describe African development vision
   In Belgium, World Biofuels Markets announced that Sir Bob Geldof will be keynote speaker at the 2009 World Biofuels Markets, laying out a vision for African economic development and freedom including a vision for the global biofuels community.
   
   Victual Reality

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