Biofuels - It’s Getting Annoying Now
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.29.07
Just yesterday Matt discussed George Monbiot's call for a moratorium on biofuel expansion. Treehugger has complained about biofuels from corn or palm oil for years, and taken some abuse for it; the main argument is "don't worry, all of these ethanol plants will run on algae or switchgrass in a couple of years, corn is just an interim measure" or the Palm Oil Truth Foundation sends another dozen emails about the glories of clearing the rainforest to grow fuel. The subsidies keep growing and the forests keep getting ploughed over.
Craig Mackintosh at Celsias writes about "the obstinate pushing of ethanol from corn, sugar, soy, and palm oils in the face of their overwhelming detrimental effect on people’s lives, and on the environment. It is where big industry, desperate to retain consumer dollars, is influencing government - who are in turn pandering to very destructive whims."
He has prepared a great summary of posts and articles from around the world showing both sides of the ledger- " Enough already-the facts" side against biofuels and the "Determined Obstinacy- We drive, come hell or high water" side, an attempt to draw "a clear line between the effects of biofuels on people and planet, and what government and industry are doing regardless." A wonderful resource. Read at ::Celsias
I know that no land destruction is good. But is the land destruction from Bio-fuel planting greater or less than the land destruction from oil production.
Maybe we should just pick the lesser of two evils and push for even more ecologically friendly options in the future.
>>I know that no land destruction is good. But is the land destruction from Bio-fuel planting greater or less than the land destruction from oil production.
Yazheirx - I would recommend you read some of the articles on the left column of the post Lloyd links to, and then you should be able to decide for yourself. There's a lot of info there, leaving little left for doubt.
Why on Earth do we use corn for biofuel?
Isn't hemp a much denser source of cellulose? I understand it requires no chemicals to grow massive dense fields of the stuff. And it has a very high level of cellulose which ethanol can be produced from.
Although the fact we are burning fuels at all is a bit mad. As in archaic. For at least the past 100 years we've had the means to generate (obtain) energy without combustion. Sadly it's not economically viable so it gets not commercial attention... and in a world dominate by commerce and corporations...well, such technologies never see the light of day.
The so called "global energy crises" is not a crises of fuel and external energy production. Rather it is a crises of human energy... how we as a race manage and mismanage our own life force is the issue here.
I predict that only when we awaken to this inner energy mismanagement and the destruction it is causing within us -- nicely mirrored in the world around -- will we be ready to utilise the truly profound alternatives to our reliance on combustion engines and the fuels that feed them.
Regards,
Jonathan