New studies say biofuels make greenhouse gases worse
February 8, 2008 by James
Filed under alternative energy
This post is brought to you by ? Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM ? ? “Love your work. Change your world.” Two new studies are giving biofuels a big fat thumbs down when it comes to their impact on greenhouse gases. This article gives a nutshell description of what the studies have to say: These studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at the emissions effects of the huge amount of natural land that is being converted to cropland globally to support biofuels development. The destruction of natural ecosystems whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands in South America not only releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they are burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions. Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces. Together the two studies offer sweeping conclusions: It does not matter if it is rain forest or scrubland that is cleared, the greenhouse-gas contribution is significant. More important, they discovered that, globally, the production of almost all biofuels resulted directly or indirectly, intentionally or not in new lands being cleared for food or fuel. “When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gases substantially,” said Timothy Searchinger, lead author of one of the studies and a researcher in environment and economics at Princeton University. —
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New studies say biofuels make greenhouse gases worse
