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Sat, 09 Feb 2008

Using Food Crops for Biofuels Increases Carbon Emissions

Common Dreams newsletter 2.08 edition, has a most interesting article on biofuels, by Alan Zembaro of the LA Times. Here's the intro:

'Biofuel Crops Increase Carbon Emissions: The conversion of forests and grasslands into fields for the plants offsets the benefit of using the fuel, researchers find. Greenhouse-gas output overall would rise instead of fall.'

The article references two recent studies from the University of Minnesota, and Princeton University. One study found that 'clearing forests and grasslands to grow the crops releases vast amounts of carbon into the air — far more than the carbon spared from the atmosphere by burning biofuels instead of gasoline.' The second study states that 'Even converting existing farmland from food to biofuel crops increases greenhouse gas emissions as food production is shifted to other parts of the world, resulting in the destruction of more forests and grasslands to make way for farmland.'

Alan Zembaro's article makes it clear that biofuels from food crops is not the way to go. Even more interesting (as usual) were the comments posted by Common Dreams readers, e.g. the following excerpt from Hopeful Brewer's post:

'The discussion of bio fuels seems to me to have consistently omitted the most productive crop of all : HEMP. ... the truth is that hemp has many advantages over corn, soy, and even switchgrass. It is a nitrogen fixer, which means that it can be grown year after year with minimal input of nutrients, it thrives on a multitude of soil conditions, its fiber and oils have literally thousands of applications, and it makes a dynamite viscous fuel. ... The paper industry has long fought hemp in favor of further deforestation, but the truth is that hemp will produce 4 times as much raw fiber for paper as a 75 year old forest, with less energy in harvesting and considerably less impact on ecosystems.' Etc.

Of course, that brought forth many more lively and informative posts.

Read The Article