Green pollution

Articles — By forcechange on March 12, 2008 2:30 am

Regular readers will not be surprised by theme of today’s post:

The New York Times had an article regarding the damage that many new biodiesel factories are doing on local environments. Biodiesel factories, like all manufacturing processes, tend to create substantial byproduct and waste. The Times’ article notes that many of these factories are allowing that waste to flow directly into the local environment.

The good news is that much of the waste from ethanol, and other biodiesel production, is fairly nontoxic, since that waste is often a type of vegetable oil or glycerin (alcohol). With that said, the release of even nontoxic oils into local water sources can suffocate much of the life in and around the water. According to the article, a vegetable oil spill can be just as deadly for birds as a crude oil spill.

This type of unintended consequence relating to alternative technologies is a common theme for this blog. Of course this problem does not lead to the conclusion that pursuing alternative fuel is a bad idea. Rather, the same problems that face non-green enterprises (such as irresponsible behavior, misspricing of externalities, ineffective regulations, etc.) will face many green enterprises. This will increasingly become the case as green tech becomes more profitable and draws more mainstream businesses. (A much better problem to have than before, when green business was only pursued by nonprofits.)

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