Posted on 09/10/2013 8:50:54 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
Getting rid of biofuel programs would cut Europe’s food costs in half by 2020, and lower global food prices by 15 percent. That’s according to a new report, commissioned by the EU’s own Joint Research Center (JRC), released ahead of a critical European Parliament vote on Wednesday to cap biofuels’ contributions to the EU’s 2020 green targets.
Current EU targets have more than half of the continent’s vegetable oils going towards biodiesel production in 2020. The new paper points out that global food prices are “strongly driven” by their end use. As Euractiv puts it, “[w]hen more soy and palm oil are used for biofuels production, less is available for food use and the resulting scarcity drives food price inflation.”
Decreasing biodiesel production would mean more food production and therefore lower food prices. The JRC estimated that global food prices would decrease 8 percent by 2020 if the European Parliament agrees to cap biodiesel production, and by a whopping 15 percent if the biodiesel targets are scrapped altogether. Even greens recognize the folly of biofuels:
“The EU’s stated goal is to decarbonise our transport fuels, but this is simply not possible if we don’t count all the carbon released when new land is converted to grow fuel,” Nuša Urbančič, the clean fuels manager for green think tank Transport and Environment told EurActiv.
The European Parliament’s environment committee already voted to cap biofuel targets, but Wednesday’s vote will be critical to the boondoggle’s future in Europe. Meanwhile, two bills to reform and/or repeal America’s biofuel mandate are slowly working their way through the US Congress.
We may never know how many poor people around the world have suffered hunger or even starvation as a result of stupid green policies where naive greens have carried the water for big agricultural interests.
I saw a “progressive” on the BBC yesterday morning whining about the global obesity epidemic.
Have no fear, he has a solution.
Make food so expensive than no one can afford it and then we’ll all be 80lbs and healthy as Karen Carpenter.
Get rid of these programs. Drill/process oil. Lower the price of energy AND food.
WIN!
Recall that Obama wants to see Africans without personal cars or air conditioning.
He also has this view for Americans.
You can’t just hop in your SUV to go to the grocery.
You can’t just set your thermostat at whatever temperature you’d like.
You can’t flush the toilet EVERY time you use it.
Our quality of life is being artificially driven downward.
Algae bio-diesel is a better way to go. You can raise fuel on acrages that are not farmable and can be made for about $1 per gallon. Otherwise, the only bio fuel that makes sense is butanol from ag waste (corn and wheat stalks, etc)
Kudzu is a really available source for making biofuels and would be welcomed to be eradicated.
I understand that kudzu leaves can be eaten. Perhaps we just need to turn it into a food source.
I never read that! I did read a year or two (or three) ago that kudzu is full of moisture that is readily distillable and would make ethanol more readily than sugar.
Well, if it can make ethanol, it should be able to make butanol which is a much better fuel. Either way, someone is likely to turn this into a money maker.
Good one!
Either way, someone is likely to turn this into a money maker....Somebody from the south, maybe. I went to Alabama a couple of years ago and my friend’s mansion was covered with it. I remarked about it and he said sadly “ Never cut that shit. It only gets worse.” Apparently, a never ending renewable resource.
the roots of this stuff go down 10/12 feet that’s why you can’t get rid of it,cows love it.
LOL - ask him to tear off a leaf and see if it is edible.
http://www.thekitchn.com/did-you-know-you-can-eat-kudzu-92488
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