Viewed from a narrow perspective, biofuels and biodiesel are a good way to reduce greenhouse emissions and solve the problem of clean fuels for the transport industry. However, we should always take a wholistic approach and consider any problems a given solution may cause, otherwise you end up solving one problem and creating ten more. I think that biofuels are one of those cures that are worse than the disease.

The big problem is agricultural sustainability. We probably don't take much notice of this in the west as we will be the last people to go hungry as a result of unsustainable agricultural practices. Plus, western countries tend to be net food exporters. However, around the world topsoils are being depleted at an alarming rate, underground aquifers are being sucked dry and we are messing with the nitrogen cycle, as well as a few others. This may one day be a bigger problem than messing with the carbon cycle and the resulting climate change.

Of course, they would be a great solution if we had a low population density, but if that were the case we could probably get away with buring some fossil fuels.

Western countries tend to be the ones that rely most heavily on technology and fossil fuels for agriculture and while we may seem to be in a good position now, that could change very quickly if a number of problems start to bite at the same time.

Topsoil is probably the biggest part of the problem. What may appear to be sustainable agriculture is often a form of mining topsoil to turn it into food. It can continue for a while, but eventually it will run out. So now is not the time to start adding biofuels to the load placed on agriculture. The vegetable matter that is turned into biofuels is vegetable matter that is not returned to the soil as compost to replenish the topsoil. While food for human consumption may only take the 'fruit,' biofuel production takes the whole plant.

Finally, we need to reconsider the underlying assumption that biofuels and biodiesel are carbon neutral. If we are reducing topsoil, then we are effectively mining a long term store of carbon and putting it into the atmosphere. This is no different to burning coal, with the exception that it can potentially be reversed - provided we can start letting the topsoil build back up and are not dependent on farming every square inch of land to provide us with paper, food and fuel for transport.

Unfortunately, topsoil is difficult to measure and is therefor unlikely to come into the economic schemes for reducing greenhouse emissions. This is another reason not to start putting even more demands on it.

Are you happy for poor people to go hungry so that you can keep driving your four wheel drive (SUV) to work?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1844114.htm

Australian scientists are adapting a soil fertility technique used in the Amazon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

For thousands of years, Amazonian Indians burned their waste organic matter in low-intensity fires and added the charred material to their land.

The method improved fertility on intensively-managed soils, but is now being considered as a way of trapping excess carbon.

Researcher Lucas Van Zweiten says carbon can be stored for thousands of years.

"In composting, the majority of carbon in the composting process is lost naturally to microbial degradation to carbon dioxide," he said.

"In pyrolisys up to 50 per cent of carbon is maintained as char which can last for several thousand years in the soil."

The other problem with biodiesel and ethanol is the amount of petroleum which enters into their production - to bring in the fertiliser and power the trucks and such that is used to make fertiliser. Perhaps it is just a fancy way of turning petroleum into a green-looking petroleum substitute?

Also, when biodiesel is made from plant oils large amounts of glycerin are created. These will become a disposal problem unless people are willing to modify their diesel engines to run on direct unmodified vegetable oil.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Ethanol-may-not-ease-global-warming-UN/2007/03/06/1172943419285.html

It's too soon to say whether the biofuel ethanol will help slow global warming, the head of the United Nations Environment Program says.

UNEP director Achim Steiner made the comments ahead of a meeting by the world's two biggest ethanol producers to discuss building a world market in the biofuel.

[Brazil's president] Lula is eager to boost global trade in Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol, which is cheaper and eight times more energy efficient than the corn ethanol made in the United States.

But Steiner said building a global ethanol market won't necessarily lower the amount of carbon gas released into the air unless there are proper norms for biofuel production and innovations in making ethanol from tough cellulosic materials like grasses and corn husks.

Currently, fertilising and processing corn into ethanol uses almost as much fossil fuel as it saves.

Brazilian cane ethanol is far more efficient, but it might lose that edge due to the expense and energy spent in being shipped overseas in fuel-guzzling tankers.

Lula has said he will ask Bush to consider lifting a US tariff on Brazilian ethanol and do more to fight global warming and foster fair trade. The White House said the tariff is not up for discussion.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21404885-601,00.html

A $100 million-plus plan to tackle childhood obesity has been dumped by the Howard Government's budget razor gang, despite the runaway economy adding billions of dollars to Treasury coffers.

But the Government is considering offering tax incentives for farmers to plant trees as part of an election-year pitch on climate change.

Discussions are also under way in Canberra on a big-spending environment and climate change package, as the Government tries to wrest back the political agenda from Labor.

This could include measures to encourage so-called carbon sinks, allowing vegetation and soils to capture carbon as part of a wider program to slow greenhouse emissions. The push to reduce land clearing - by offering tax incentives to plant trees and other vegetation - has been discussed by senior government figures, but no final decision has been made.

Biofuel is good by my experience.

Bought some shares in a biofuel company some time ago. made a profit and got out.
The price is currently about 1/4 what I sold them for, looking to get back in. If they go up.

By the SprintcyclistProfit Indicator, biofuels are very good. 


You people are just a wee bit narrow in your focus.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/NSW-to-mandate-ethanol-in-petrol/2007/05/11/1178390531377.html

NSW is set to become the first state to mandate the use of ethanol in petrol.

Regional Development Minister Tony Kelly said the government was working towards fulfilling its election promise on bio-fuel.

From September, fuel supplied by wholesalers to petrol stations in NSW must have two per cent ethanol content.

He accused the federal government of "going missing" on biofuel, saying it had been left to the states and territories to lead the way.

Mr Kelly said it was time for a mandate to be introduced nationally.

"The National Party talks and talks about biofuel, but it hasn't even managed to convince its Liberal colleagues to mandate nationally," he said.

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Vaile pushes for ethanol fuel rollout

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Vaile-pushes-for-ethanol-fuel-rollout/2007/05/13/1178994973327.html

Transport Minister Mark Vaile has urged petrol retailers to increase the availability of cheaper ethanol-blended fuel, as motorists face a fresh spike in petrol prices.

Mr Vaile defended the government's record on petrol, while urging consumers to seek out the cheapest prices.

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NZ Nats want 50% carbon cut by 2050

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/NZ-Nats-want-50-carbon-cut-by-2050/2007/05/13/1178994977722.html

New Zealand's main opposition party, the National Party, says it wants a 50 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

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Ethanol blend petrol to be law: Iemma

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Ethanol-blend-petrol-to-be-law-Iemma/2007/06/21/1182019227502.html

NSW motorists will soon save four cents a litre on petrol when the state government passes a bill to mandate minimum ethanol petrol blends.

The Biofuel (Ethanol Content) Bill 2007 was introduced into parliament on Wednesday night as Premier Morris Iemma took a swipe at the federal government for failing to introduce such a national scheme.

If passed in both houses of state parliament, the bill will mandate that the cleaner fuel ethanol must comprise at least two per cent of total petrol sold in NSW by October 1.

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Meeting ethanol target a problem: study

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Meeting-ethanol-target-a-problem-study/2007/06/21/1182019279362.html

Australia could face a major biosecurity problem if the federal government's biofuel production target is met.

Oil companies have been told to create a modest 350 megalitres of biofuels by 2010 in response to climate change and concerns oil is running out.

The major biofuel in Australia is ethanol, which is made from sugar cane and grain.

But a government research paper released on Thursday says Australia may be forced to import wheat if the target is met and the drought is still raging.

"If all of the ethanol capacity that is currently proposed was to be fulfilled by existing crops ... it could force the import of wheat in drought years," the paper said.

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Lessons from history to combat climate change

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/11/int18.htm

PARIS: From the enigma of Easter Island to the famines that struck India in the 19th century, the past is throwing up vital pointers for scientists poring over how to combat looming climate change.

Rising global temperatures this century will stress almost every agricultural region of the world, according to the latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

But for poor tropical nations, the risk is the greatest by far. For them, malnutrition caused by prolonged spells of drought and flooding looms as a distant but serious worry.

Experts pondering how to tackle the threat are delving into history, exploring how civilisations of the past, facing similar perils, either coped or were wiped out.

US academic Jared Diamond, author of “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” says “ecocide” — ecological suicide — plays a greatly under-estimated role in the fall of societies.

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Govt not going soft on ethanol: Vaile

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/govt-not-going-soft-on-ethanol-vaile/2007/08/05/1185648225266.html

Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile says he hopes it will not be necessary to enforce measures so that oil companies reach the federal government's ethanol retail target, but has not ruled it out.

Shortly after opening Shell Australia's 200th converted E10 (10 per cent ethanol) service station at Manuka in Canberra, Mr Vaile said the government was serious about reaching its target of a retail volume of 350 million litres of E10 fuel each year by 2010.

Internal EU report casts doubts on its biofuel strategy

http://news.smh.com.au/internal-eu-report-casts-doubts-on-its-biofuel-strategy/20080119-1mv2.html

An internal European Commission study, seen by AFP Friday, criticises an EU plan to boost the use of biofuels in transport, concluding that their costs outweigh the benefits.

A Commission spokesman downplayed the study and insisted that the use of biofuels remained at the centre of its strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Europe.

The cost-benefit study looks at whether using biofuels reduces greenhouse gas emissions, improves security of supply and creates jobs and delivers an unenthusiastic opinion on all three counts.

"What the cost-benefit analysis shows is that there are better ways to achieve greenhouse gas savings and security of supply enhancements than to produce biofuels," says the report.

EU taxpayers would have to fork out an extra 33-65 billion euros (48-95 billion US dollars) between now and 2020 if the European Commission proposals go ahead, according to the study.

On agriculture however the study warns that the proposed EU measures will require the use of huge swathes of land outside of Europe and it questions whether it will make any greenhouse gas savings at all.

Green groups warn that the EU plans could lead to forest clearances for biofuels or for food crops displaced by biofuel plantations as farmers switch over.

The report concludes that by using the same EU resources of money and biomass, significantly greater greenhouse gas savings could be achieved by imposing only an overall biomass-use target instead of a separate one for transport.

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UK MPs seek moratorium on biofuels

http://news.smh.com.au/uk-mps-seek-moratorium-on-biofuels/20080121-1n6q.html

Most biofuels harm rather than help the environment and the British government should call a moratorium on increasing their use, a parliamentary committee says.

"Biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road transport - but at present most biofuels have a detrimental impact on the environment overall," Tim Yeo, chairman of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said.

Biofuels can be substituted for fossil fuels and are seen by advocates as a way of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases believed to contribute to global warming. Grains, vegetable oils and sugar are among the industry's current feedstocks.

Britain has ordered transport fuel suppliers to supply five percent of their UK road fuel from renewable fuels by 2010.

The Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science, issued a report last week saying the government directive would do little to combat climate change because it lacked targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Vic govt urged to delay biofuels targets

http://news.smh.com.au/vic-govt-urged-to-delay-biofuels-targets/20080207-1qsq.html

Victoria should resist introducing mandatory ethanol and biofuels targets, a state parliamentary inquiry has found.

The inquiry, by the Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee, found the costs of developing biofuels could outweigh the benefits.

"In particular, issues brought to the committee's attention highlighted limited feedstock availability and the potential for increased biofuels production to place upwards pressure on feedstock and food prices."

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Converting land for biofuel worsens global warming: study

http://news.smh.com.au/converting-land-for-biofuel-worsens-global-warming-study/20080208-1qxz.html

Clearing raw land to produce biofuels actually contributes to global warming by emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, researchers warned Thursday.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new croplands carved into rainforests, savannas, wetlands or grasslands would easily surpass the overall amount of CO2 emissions reduced through the use of biofuels, according to a report in the February 8 edition of Science.

"All the biofuels we use now cause habitat destruction, either directly or indirectly," he said.

Carbon is stored in dead trees and plants as well as in the soil, and naturally seeps into the atmosphere in the form of CO2. Converting native habitats to cropland increases the release of CO2 into the air, the report said.

The researchers calculated that in Indonesia, where wetlands are being converted to grow palm oil to produce biofuels, it will take 423 years before biofuel CO2 emission savings would repay the carbon debt caused by the land conversion.

The researchers noted that strong growth in the demand for corn-based ethanol in the United States has led to the increasing destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

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Virgin flies biofuel-powered jumbo jet

http://news.smh.com.au/virgin-flies-biofuelpowered-jumbo-jet/20080225-1ugm.html

Virgin Atlantic conducted the world's first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with biofuel in an effort to show it can produce less carbon dioxide than normal jet fuels.

Sunday's flight, which landed safely in the Netherlands, was partially fueled with a biofuel mixture of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks. The jet carried pilots and several technicians, but no passengers.

Good thread. I have some interests in cellulosic ethanol and FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester) biofuel production.

There is a tendency to go with the easiest methods of producing biofuel which have been oil seed (canola, oilseed) and sugar fermentation, but these are not necessarily the best because they take up land that was formerly used for food production and animal feed, thus driving the prices up.

Eventually the market will set the balance, and the emergence of new technology (eg grassoline) and crops suited to arid conditions(eg Jatropha, sweet sorghum) will improve our overall profile.

With FAME biodiesel, it's important to use methanol supplies that are biosourced. Most methanol nowadays is manufactured from natural gas, and this is clearly not sustainable. 

If you want to increase uptake of atmospheric CO2 by crops, there are several options. shredding and ploughing in biomass from harvests is one option.