Biofuels: No Laughing Matter

Major initiatives are underway to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, cut carbon emissions while reducing our ecological footprint and climate effects through use of biofuels. As the name implies, biofuels are produced using corn, wheat, sugar and other agricultural products. One application of biofuels is to mix them with gasoline to reduce vehicle carbon emissions by 10% or more. Despite the advertised benefits of biofuels, there are also many, if not more. reasons for avoiding the use of biofuels.

Stumble It!

Some of the more obvious issues that policy makers face (or should I say ignore?) when promoting biofuel solutions are as follows:

• World starvation diversion of agricultural products and productive land away from feeding the global population;
• Clean water: massive use of clean water supplies is required during manufacture of biofuels;
• Agricultural land: increased need for productive land results in sacrifice of forests and rainforests; the existing land needs to support much higher levels of agricultural production.   Forest reduction results in larger ecological footprint and effects of climate change.
  

It is the last point "agricultural land" that is the focus of this post. Today, companies are actively pursuing new techniques for extracting more out the existing agricultural land.  An example is the development of a variety of corn that may be planted earlier in the spring, allowing two summer harvests on one plot of land. Such activities will result in substantially greater use of fertilizers.

Nitrogen is commonly used in chemical fertilizers, doubling in use over the last 15 years. Nitrogen-based fertilizers provide the necessary nutrients for plant growth but when the fertilizer breaks down, nitrous oxide (N2O) is generated and released into the atmosphere.

Now most people will recognize nitrous oxide as "laughing gas", used as an anesthetic in dentistry and surgery. What you may not know however is that nitrous oxide is one of the most significant greenhouse gas contributors, behind water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane.  Although the quantity of nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere is very small compared to carbon dioxide, it has almost 300 times more impact per unit weight than carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide persists in the atmosphere for hundreds of years so the decisions made today will directly affect the quality of life for future generations. Nitrous oxide also affects the ozone in the stratosphere in a manner similar to CFCs did prior to their elimination over the last three decades.

At present, scientists believe that more than two thirds of nitrous oxide is generated via natural means. Even so, human activity is contributing more and more to the problem as demand for agricultural crops accelerates globally.

I would like to leave you with the following question as food for thought::  "How much nitrous oxide are our political leaders inhaling?"   Surely they don't believe that biofuels are a solution to our environment woes.  Tell them to come up with more environmentally friendly solutions and reduce our collective ecological footprint intelligently so that we don't have to suffer the ever-increasing effects of climate change.

			Stumble It!

Comments

[Adam]

Great article. I've recently gotten into the Bio-Fuel debate and wrote an article called "Jimmy cracked corn ethanol and I dont care!"

Unfortunately, some people think that using a food crop to make fuel is a good idea. Go figure. E85 has less energy than gas so it takes more to go the same distance, and it cost's more per gallon. Regardless of the fact that its bad for the environment for a thousand different reasons and it drives up the cost of corn and grain on the world markets and contributes to slash and burn agriculture in rainforest countries....

I'll stop, before I get carried away.

Keep up the good fight, and Alter the Eco,

Adam

www.twilightearth.com

[Steve Auger]

All good points Adam. I love your blog.

[KIWI RIVERMAN]

I will mention the Jatrophra tree which can, and has been planted in India and other countries, be planted on unaridable land.