Forced use of biofuels could hit food production, EU warned

The Guardian ^ | 11/9/2010 | John Vidal

[markomalley]

Plans to make European motorists use more biofuels could take an area the size of Ireland out of food production by 2020 and accelerate climate change, a study has found.

The report by the independent Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is based on plans that countries have submitted to the EU detailing how they intend to meet their legal requirement to include 10% of renewable energy in all transport fuels by 2020.

IEEP calculations suggest that the indirect effect of the switch will be to take between 4.1m and 6.9m hectares out of food production. In addition, say the authors, opening up land to compensate for the food taken out of production will lead to between 27m and 56m tonnes of additional CO² emissions, the equivalent of putting nearly 26m more cars on the road.

The study says European countries have chosen to meet the EU renewable energy targets by importing so-called first generation biofuels from African countries or from Indonesia and Brazil, rather than by promoting the use of advanced biofuels, electric vehicles or energy efficiency to reduce the environmental impact of transport.

"The renewable energy directive was adopted to help combat climate change, however, through promoting the use of conventional biofuels with no consideration of indirect land use change impacts it has the potential to actually increase the EU's greenhouse gas emissions.

"It is vital that this situation is rectified and these impacts are urgently addressed within EU law," said David Baldock, director of IEEP.

Development groups which commissioned the report said the effect of the EU legislation would be felt around the world and urged the EU to drop the 10% biofuels goal.

[epithermal]

But won’t the ensuing starvation reduce the co2 load?

[WellyP]

5 or 6 years ago Fidel Castro who is near the top of my most despised list said about the US making alchohol from corn, “Smart people don't burn their food”. It was the first and most likely the last time I will ever agree with him.

[WellyP]

5 or 6 years ago Fidel Castro who is near the top of my most despised list said about the US making alcohol from corn, “Smart people don't burn their food”. It was the first and most likely the last time I will ever agree with him.

[Cold Heart]

Ethanol Fraud BTTT

[Dick Bachert]

Fidel and Obozo have much in common. They both got their jobs through the New York Slimes and were, when they reported for work, were both dedicated Marxists.

The difference is that Castro has recently admitted that he screwed up and that socialism is a failure.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Obozo to do that.

[Sacajaweau]

If you have actual fuel...coal, gas, oil....Why in the world would you tap such a diverse food crop??? Just plain stupid.

[redgolum]

Takes A LOT of water for coal gasification.

One of the big draw backs.

[buffyt]

Depends on the biofuel you are talking about. Dow Chemical is making fuel using algae. NOT in the food chain, not a food source. My husband is on this project designing the process.

Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels, a start-up company, are set to announce Monday that they will build a demonstration plant that, if successful, would use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol as a vehicle fuel or an ingredient in plastics.

Times Topics: Biofuels

A blog about energy, the environment and the bottom line.

Go to Blog » Because algae does not require any farmland or much space, many energy companies are trying to use it to make commercial quantities of hydrocarbons for fuel and chemicals. But harvesting the hydrocarbons has proved difficult so far.

The ethanol would be sold as fuel, the companies said, but Dow’s long-term interest is in using it as an ingredient for plastics, replacing natural gas. The process also produces oxygen, which could be used to burn coal in a power plant cleanly, said Paul Woods, chief executive of Algenol, which is based in Bonita Springs, Fla. The exhaust from such a plant would be mostly carbon dioxide, which could be reused to make more algae.

“We give them the oxygen, we get very pure carbon dioxide, and the output is very cheap ethanol,” said Mr. Woods, who said the target price was $1 a gallon.

[businessprofessor]

As long as you are not asking for subsidies and mandates, go for it. I have major doubts about algae production scalability but perhaps the difficulties can be overcome.If it is economically viable, you can be sure that some leftist group will raise violent objections and find courts to increase production costs.

[SaraJohnson]

The Socialists/Global Warmists know full well they are reducing the food supply. They have stated clearly there are too many people on their earth.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !