United Nations report outlines the trouble with biofuels

So What's Plan C?

Remember how biofuels were going to save us? That lasted about as long as an ice cream cone on a hot day. A new United Nations report says the switch to biofuels, if not well managed, could lead to rampant deforestation, food and water shortages, and increased poverty. It also says using biofuels for heat and power is a better and cheaper way to cut greenhouse-gas emissions than using them for transportation. With demand exploding, 17 countries have committed to growing crops like palm oil, corn, and soy on a large scale. But, the U.N. warns, that could lead to erosion, nutrient leaching, and -- if the crops replace forests -- "large releases of carbon from the soil and forest biomass that negate any benefits of biofuels for decades." On the upside, biofuels do hold the promise of making clean energy available to millions. But the U.N. recommends a certification program for an industry that is, says U.N. energy coordinator Gustavo Best, "so fast and so disorganized ... and so misinformed."

straight to the source: The Guardian, John Vidal, 09 May 2007

straight to the source: BBC News, 09 May 2007

straight to the source: Reuters, Michelle Nichols, 08 May 2007

see also, in Grist: A special series on biofuels

listen in Gristmill: Subsidized Ethanol Blues

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Biofuelwatch

I find it hard to see how you can talk about biofuels and there dangers without mentioning Biofuelwatch.

http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk

As for an alterntive, energy efficiency is that solution. You americans are just going to have to get over SUVs and drive cars that dont weigh two tones.

Of course the energy source of the future is renewable energy in all its forms.

Electricity is the transfer storage media...Tesla, need i say more?

Interested in climate change? http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com

by calvinjones at 3:08 PM on 09 May 2007

Chevy Volt

150 mpg

http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/

Texeme.Construct(Participant)

by jabailo at 9:38 AM on 10 May 2007

Here's the link to the report itself

UN-Energy (2007), Sustainable Bioenergy: A Framework for Decision Makers, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

These are only my personal opinions.

by Ron Steenblik at 2:20 PM on 10 May 2007

Please read the report

Mmm, this is a very selective reading of the report.

The UN report also says:

"Biofuels are the only realistic medium term replacement for fossil fuels in transport".

And:

"Biofuels offer an extraordinary opportunity for poor countries."

"Recent oil price increases have had devastating effects on many of the world's poor countries, some of which now spend as much as six times as much on fuel as they do on health. Others spend twice the money on fuel as they do on poverty alleviation. And in still others, the foreign exchange drain from higher oil prices is five times the gain from recent debt relief."
"In such national settings, the macroeconomic benefits of channeling fuel revenues [from biofuels] into poor, rural economies could be substantial."

"The gradual move away from oil has begun. Over the next 15 to 20 years, we may see biofuels providing a full 25 percent of the world's energy needs".

"Modern bioenergy could make energy services more widely and cheaply available in remote rural areas, supporting productivity growth in agriculture and other sectors with positive implications for food availability and access".

"Modern bioenergy can also help to meet the needs of the 1.6 billion people worldwide who lack access to electricity in their homes, and the 2.4 billion who rely on straw, dung and other traditional biomass fuels to meet their energy requirements."

So we have: positive effects on food security, positive effects for farmers, positive effects for the economies of the poorest countries, positive effects for the environment.

Biofuels can go both ways. If they are produced wisely they can help lift millions out of poverty, mitigate climate chage, and benefit the environment.

Find out more at: Biopact.

Also, biofuels are the only way to design radical carbon negative energy systems. So-calle Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage (BECS) takes our historic emissions out of the atmosphere. No other technology can be carbon negative.

Green think tanks should try to be up to date on these basic concepts.

More about BECS, now recognized by the IPCC's Working Group III:

BECS and the IPCC.

Independent analyses by the International Energy Agency show that the potential for sustainably produced biofuels (both liquid and solid) is 1200 Exajoules per year by 2050, in a best case scenario. That is, roughly 3 times the total amount of energy consumed by the entire world from all energy sources. And that is: without further deforestation and without threatening food supplies.

IEA Bioenergy Task 40, Global Biofuel Potential.

Sadly, some journalists are not up to date on the science and take an ultra-short term perspective.

by Biopact at 4:40 AM on 11 May 2007

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