Comments on: More Problems with Bio-fuels http://thecityfix.com/more-problems-with-bio-fuels/ Sustainable Urban Mobility Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:10:55 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5.2 hourly 1 By: Mark Van Walbeck http://thecityfix.com/more-problems-with-bio-fuels/comment-page-1/#comment-424 Mark Van Walbeck Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:27:03 +0000 http://thecityfix.com/more-problems-with-bio-fuels/#comment-424 A new biodiesel feedstock in the form of the shrub or small tree known as Jatropha curcas L. An environmetally friendly, sustainable and economically rewarding fuel source. According to the GETCO (Global Energy Trading Co.) web site, the crop does not compete with the food industry beacuse its seeds are inedible and grows in soils that do not support most crops. A new biodiesel feedstock in the form of the shrub or small tree known as Jatropha curcas L. An environmetally friendly, sustainable and economically rewarding fuel source. According to the GETCO (Global Energy Trading Co.) web site, the crop does not compete with the food industry beacuse its seeds are inedible and grows in soils that do not support most crops.

]]> By: Jerome Weingart http://thecityfix.com/more-problems-with-bio-fuels/comment-page-1/#comment-423 Jerome Weingart Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:14:28 +0000 http://thecityfix.com/more-problems-with-bio-fuels/#comment-423 There have been many unintended and unanticipated negative consequences of the huge scale-up in biofuels production, starting with biofuels crops. These consequences include unsustainable land use changes, erosion of vital ecosystem services, destruction of habitat in tropical forests, irreversible loss of tropical ecosystems, greatly increased greenhouse gas emissions from clearing and burning of tropical ecosystems and land use shifts in temperate climates, an increasingly contentious "food vs. fuel" debate, and concerns that some biofuels will have a greater impact on global climate change than continued use of fossil fuels, when all life-cycle aspects are properly accounted for. The often-touted benefits for landless farmers in developing countries often fail to materialize, with the poor remaining poor and not benefitting from local investments in biofuels crop production or conversion to biofuels. I am neither for nor against biofuels, but I am concerned that the dot com-like craze for these fuels, coupled with huge and rapidly growing public- and private-sector investments, will lead to serious environmental, social, and financial consequences for the principal stakeholders. A lot of good analysis has been conducted in this arena, and more is underway. What is needed, it seems to me, is a solid and dispassionate review and synthesis of this work and establishment of good practice guidelines for the transition to a sustainable biofuels industry worldwide. There have been many unintended and unanticipated negative consequences of the huge scale-up in biofuels production, starting with biofuels crops. These consequences include unsustainable land use changes, erosion of vital ecosystem services, destruction of habitat in tropical forests, irreversible loss of tropical ecosystems, greatly increased greenhouse gas emissions from clearing and burning of tropical ecosystems and land use shifts in temperate climates, an increasingly contentious “food vs. fuel” debate, and concerns that some biofuels will have a greater impact on global climate change than continued use of fossil fuels, when all life-cycle aspects are properly accounted for. The often-touted benefits for landless farmers in developing countries often fail to materialize, with the poor remaining poor and not benefitting from local investments in biofuels crop production or conversion to biofuels.

I am neither for nor against biofuels, but I am concerned that the dot com-like craze for these fuels, coupled with huge and rapidly growing public- and private-sector investments, will lead to serious environmental, social, and financial consequences for the principal stakeholders.

A lot of good analysis has been conducted in this arena, and more is underway. What is needed, it seems to me, is a solid and dispassionate review and synthesis of this work and establishment of good practice guidelines for the transition to a sustainable biofuels industry worldwide.

]]>