If we want to save the planet, we need a five-year freeze on biofuels

Guardian UK ^ | 3/27/2007` | George Monbiot

[Uncledave]

It used to be a matter of good intentions gone awry. Now it is plain fraud. The governments using biofuel to tackle global warming know that it causes more harm than good. But they plough on regardless.

{snip}

So what's wrong with these programmes? Only that they are a formula for environmental and humanitarian disaster. In 2004 I warned, on these pages, that biofuels would set up a competition for food between cars and people. The people would necessarily lose: those who can afford to drive are richer than those who are in danger of starvation. It would also lead to the destruction of rainforests and other important habitats.

{snip}

Since the beginning of last year, the price of maize has doubled. The price of wheat has also reached a 10-year high, while global stockpiles of both grains have reached 25-year lows. Already there have been food riots in Mexico and reports that the poor are feeling the strain all over the world. The US department of agriculture warns that "if we have a drought or a very poor harvest, we could see the sort of volatility we saw in the 1970s, and if it does not happen this year, we are also forecasting lower stockpiles next year". According to the UN food and agriculture organisation, the main reason is the demand for ethanol: the alcohol used for motor fuel, which can be made from maize and wheat.

{snip}

Farmers will respond to better prices by planting more, but it is not clear that they can overtake the booming demand for biofuel. Even if they do, they will catch up only by ploughing virgin habitat.

[Wonder Warthog]

Malarkey. The long-term effect of the increase in biofuels will be a LARGER availability of food. What do you think is going to happen to the left-over protein portions from corn and soybeans after the sugar content of the first and the oil content of the second is removed?? They'll be sold AS FOOD.

The current price increase is simply a temporary phenomenon as the US farmers gear up for increased production.

[Darnright]

>Biodiesel has the same problems as ethanol; we don't have enough arable land to grow enough crops for it.<

Biodiesel can be made from used cooking oil. There's enough of that in US restaurants to make a sizable dent in our dependence on ME oil supplies. It takes less energy by far to produce biodiesel than it does ethanol, because of the recycling.

[Tenacious 1]

[Biodiesel has the same problems as ethanol; we don't have enough arable land to grow enough crops for it.]

Actually we do. We have plenty. If the guvmnt stays out of it, capitolism will make it all work. Part of GB's energy plan breaks down the farm aid acts that prohibit (and pay) farmers not to grow crops. We do not farm nearly as much land as you might think. Government subsidies pay farmers not to plant crops in order to control supply and prices. Years ago this was thought to protect the "family farmer." Now a days, wealthy people buy big lands and grab the subsidies because there is little oversite or regulation. I don't know the deatails, but I know that part of Bush's energy plan allows farmers to grow crops for fuel at will.

If you don't believe that there is plenty of land to grow corn for fuel, I recommend you take a cross country trip via three routes; I-70, I-80 and West Texas. I don't recommend an electric car for this trip unless you have a tent and a satelite phone.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

We need a five-year freeze on the enviralists.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I asked a couple of farmers I know about the seed corn story. Neither mentioned any shortage. They pay cash, of course...

[Uncledave]

Is there a coherent reason for your aversion? Why is burning crops for fuel bizarre? The diesel engine was originally designed to run on peanut and corn oil, so its certainly not something new.

Original peanut oil engine designs did not envision the requirements of the worldwide market for transportation fuels.

I'm averted to the idea of burning food for fuel because I don't like the idea of food pricing competing with other uses. The factors of food demand and costs (costs of farming and processing/distribution) generate food prices. But I have an ethical problem bidding up the price of food based on demand that does not involve *eating* the food, when it's on this kind of scale.

I've always been taught to not waste food and burning it in a Honda is a waste to me. Let's drill for more oil for that purpose until there's better options available.

[JamesP81]

Biodiesel can be made from used cooking oil. There's enough of that in US restaurants to make a sizable dent in our dependence on ME oil supplies. It takes less energy by far to produce biodiesel than it does ethanol, because of the recycling.

That might be so; but it's still not enough. It would take several acres of soybeans to produce enough biodiesel for one car for a year. We're talking about hundreds of millions of acres of crops. As you say, that can be reduced by using waste cooking oil, but it simply won't be enough.

The only long term solution is electric cars and nuclear power. A company called Tesla Motors makes an electric sports car which can be charged overnight and has a range of 250 miles. Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that this car is practical. It's $90,000 price tag and somewhat experimental design means that, for now, it is nothing more than a novelty. I have a pretty long commute to work, but even so, if I owned one I could drive to and from work and run all my errands on one charge pretty easily.

As I said, this vehicle is a novelty, but it's practical cruising range serves as proof of concept that an all electric car is a feasible alternative. The power that car runs on did not come from any source in any way related to the middle east.

[Red Badger]

First rule of civilization: Don't burn your food.......

[Yo-Yo]

From the Guardian, no less.

[Dick Bachert]

Yes, but even though there may be no food there, you'll STILL be able to DRIVE to the supermarket...

[Red Badger]

Biodiesel oils from restaurants can be used as food and fuel after they are unuseable..........

[Red Badger]

You'll STILL be able to DRIVE to the supermarket......and pick up your copy of People, Time, Enquirer, Star............

[zek157]

Popular seed corn hybrids sold out because of ethanol boom
By Thomas Geyer Quad-City Times | Monday, March 19, 2007

Farmers ready to cash in on rising corn prices already should have bought their hybrid seeds for planting that will start in the next month.

Otherwise, their first and even second choices for hybrids probably are sold out.

Corn futures continue to hover about $4 a bushel in response to the growing demand for ethanol, which is why farmers are choosing to plant more corn.

At this point, any shortage of first or second choice hybrids probably is not a problem here in the cornbelt, but it could be in states to the south, where the planting season starts earlier, said DeWitt, Iowa, farmer Bob Bowman, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

[Uncledave]

Restaurant waste is fine but it's a proverbial drop in the oil can.

[saganite]

The only objections in this article are the usual enviro-wacko BS; killing rainforests, starving the poor,

If you think starving the poor so you can feel good about driving your car is a good idea then you're part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[yankeedame]

Making ethanol from crops is a losing proposition.

Unless you grow the stuff, and then.....

[dfwgator]

So where did they get five years from? I figure it's from the same place most statistics come from with envirowhackos, from their tuckus.

[P-40]

If you think starving the poor

Who is 'starving the poor?'

[dfwgator]

Unless you grow the stuff, and then.....

[anglian]

An eyepopping report on the full range of subsidies, federal and state, is in the report "Biofuels: At What Cost. Government Support for Ethanol and Biodiesel in the United States" at http://www.globalsubsidies.org/IMG/pdf/biofuels_subsidies_us.pdf