In This Article
Subscribe to Science Updates
U.K. Biofuels Law ‘Overhasty’
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Robert Watson, the U.K. Ministry of the Environment’s top scientific adviser, recommends the government reconsider its law requiring that gasoline contain 2.5 percent biofuels.
30-Second Summary
Watson says that the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation law, due to go into effect on April 15, could have detrimental effects on the environment. He contends that there is insufficient data on the carbon footprint left by biofuels production.
But Dr. Stephen Ladyman, the U.K. minister of state transport, responded to criticism that the law is being hastily implemented in a speech on April 18, 2007. “We’ve done a huge amount of work developing the RTFO in consultation with industry, academia, NGOs and other stakeholders,” Ladyman argued.
Nonetheless, there are persistent concerns that devoting farmland to biofuels pushes up global food prices. Agricultural economists Dennis and Alex Avery write, “World corn prices are above $5 a bushel, up from $1.86 three years ago. Prices for wheat, soybeans, rice and even cotton are rising as they’re crowded out of field space by biofuel crops.”
Brazilian professor Luiz Augusto Horta Nogueira said in an interview with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization that the answer to sustainability may lie in the choice of crop used for biofuel production. For example, less than 20 million hectares of oil palms can produce just as much biodiesel as 200 million hectares of either soybeans or rapeseed.
But Dr. Stephen Ladyman, the U.K. minister of state transport, responded to criticism that the law is being hastily implemented in a speech on April 18, 2007. “We’ve done a huge amount of work developing the RTFO in consultation with industry, academia, NGOs and other stakeholders,” Ladyman argued.
Nonetheless, there are persistent concerns that devoting farmland to biofuels pushes up global food prices. Agricultural economists Dennis and Alex Avery write, “World corn prices are above $5 a bushel, up from $1.86 three years ago. Prices for wheat, soybeans, rice and even cotton are rising as they’re crowded out of field space by biofuel crops.”
Brazilian professor Luiz Augusto Horta Nogueira said in an interview with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization that the answer to sustainability may lie in the choice of crop used for biofuel production. For example, less than 20 million hectares of oil palms can produce just as much biodiesel as 200 million hectares of either soybeans or rapeseed.
Headline Link: ‘Call for Delay to Biofuels Policy’
Watson said that the government had not sought his advice on whether biofuels were sustainable, telling the BBC that “it would be insane if the RTFO had the opposite effects of the ones intended.” In addition to the RTFO, Britain faces EU policy that requires all member states to include 5 percent biofuels in road fuels by 2010.
Source: The BBC
Background: The biofuels debate
Biodiesel.org cites a 1998 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that “concluded biodiesel reduces net carbon dioxide emissions by 78 percent compared to petroleum diesel.”
Source: Biodiesel.org
U.K. paper The Guardian writes that crop production for biofuels can sometimes release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than what would be saved by using biofuels.
Source: The Guardian
Global food prices are increasing and biofuel production may in part be to blame. New technology could hold the answer to food and energy needs.
Source: findingDulcinea
Demand for ethanol vexes farmers and dairy enthusiasts alike, prompting concern over whether efforts to diversify America’s supply of energy are cost- and energy-efficient.
Source: findingDulcinea
Reactions: ‘Biofuels Make Sense but Only if They Are Austainable’
In an April 18, 2007, speech, U.K. Minister of State for Transport Dr. Stephen Ladyman responded to criticism that the government was moving forward too quickly with the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation. “We’ve done a huge amount of work developing the RTFO in consultation with industry, academia, NGOs and other stakeholders,” he said, adding that “biofuels are going to play a major role in meeting Britain’s long-term strategic energy needs and I don’t want to lose any momentum in transforming potential into reality.”
Source: Biofuel Review
Opinion & Analysis: The pros and cons of biofuels
Biofuels are necessary and can be sustainable
In 2007, the world’s demand for oil increased by the equivalent of some 900,000 barrels per day. Biofuels went part of the way to meet the demand, with global production of oil equivalent increasing by approximately 300,000 barrels per day. Francisco Blanch, a commodity strategist with Merrill Lynch, told The Wall Street Journal that “oil and gasoline prices would be about 15 percent higher if biofuel producers weren't increasing their output. That would put oil at more than $115 a barrel, instead of the current price of around $102.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal (registration required)
Brazilian professor Luiz Augusto Horta Nogueira said in an interview with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization that biofuels production can be sustainable if “we concentrate on the good option that we have in wet, tropical countries.” According to Noguiera, it would take less than 20 million hectares of oil palm plantations to produce enough biodiesel to meet 5 percent of world diesel demand. To produce the same amount of diesel from a crop grown in a more temperate climate, such as soybeans or rapeseed, it would take some 200 million hectares.
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization (in mp3 format)
Biofuels production means more expensive food
Dennis Avery, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture economist, and Alex Avery, the director of Research and Education at the Center for Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute, argue that biofuels production has driven up prices for staple goods worldwide: “World corn prices are above $5 a bushel, up from $1.86 three years ago. Prices for wheat, soybeans, rice and even cotton are rising as they’re crowded out of field space by biofuel crops … China’s food inflation rate is 18.2 percent, and the Chinese have blocked further expansion of their fledgling biofuel program.”
Source: The Roanoke Times
The Financial Times argues that although cuts in food production subsidies, as well as higher oil prices, play a role in rising food prices, “the biggest structural change is biofuels … Those governments that are subsidizing biofuels need to cough up and help fund the World Food Program. The world has enough food to feed everybody—if there is the will to do so.”
Source: Financial Times (registration may be required)
Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, said on Aug. 15, 2007, that the extensive production of biofuels currently remains impractical for much of the world: “In many developing countries it would make more sense to wait for the emergence of second-generation technologies, and to plan to ‘leapfrog’ to these technologies later.” Von Braun's speech is available as a PDF.
Source: International Food Policy Research Institute
Reference: The U.K. Renewable Fuels Agency
Britain’s Renewable Fuels Agency has information on biofuels and the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation.
Source: The Renewable Fuels Agency
Most Recent Beyond The Headlines
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
