An overview of the arguments against biofuels.
An op-ed at SFGate.com looked at a topic we’ve touched on a few times here—whether ethanol production is reducing or exacerbating the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. We’re interested by this topic because it deals with the potential dangers of reflexive governmental mandates. Whether ethanol is actually worse for the environment than petroleum, we’re not sure, but this opinion piece does a nice job of identifying the major criticisms of biofuels and their negative effects on the environment and society in general.
Those criticisms are as follows:
-Increased demand for corn (and other biofuel crops) causes the price of those crops, and consequently food, to increase.
-Increased crop prices make it more expensive for farmers to feed their livestock, thereby increasing the price of meat and dairy products.
-Biofuel production requires extreme amounts of water—in fact, one gallon of ethanol requires four gallons of water to produce.
-The increased demand for biofuel crops leads to deforestation and destruction of wetlands and grasslands, to make space for the planting of those crops. Both the process of clearing these lands, as well as the loss of their carbon consuming foliage, lead to increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
And towards the end of the op-ed piece, the author basically throws in the kitchen sink, with the following paragraph:
Scientists predict that the Gulf of Mexico, already polluted by agricultural runoff from the United States, will only get worse as demand for ethanol, and therefore corn, increases. Meanwhile, rain forests throughout Central and South America are being razed to make way for land to grow biofuel components. Tortilla shortages in Mexico, rising flour prices in Pakistan, Indonesian and Malaysian forests being cut down and burned to make palm oil, and encroachments upon the Amazon rainforest due to Brazilian sugar cane production — all these developments indicate that biofuels are turning out to be more destructive than helpful.
While complete scientific consensus has not yet been reached on this topic, these arguments that biofuels are a bad thing for the planet sure seem compelling as more information about their consequences comes to light.
- Similar Posts:
- Addicted to corn?
- Addicted to corn, part II
- European agency recommends pullback from biofuel craze.
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