Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Biofuels and the "land use cascade"







Caspar Henderson said...

These studies do seem to be extremely valuable, and the land-use cascade idea very useful. Investing in demand reduction, and setting higher efficiency standards look all the more the first best way to go, for transport fuels as for other kinds of energy use. [How about a speed limit -- 90kmph, say -- on German autobahns?]

Still, should there be no role for somekinds of biofuels in future? What about jatropha and sugarcane-derived fuels for local use in some circumstances where land is already degraded in regions such as rural West Africa and the Caribbean ? What about biofuels from algae? What about switchgrass and cellulosic ethanol?

Simon Donner said...

True, biofuels are not inherently evil. The issues are the choice of crop, and how and where that crop is grown. If production does not require clearing forests or grasslands -- either using degraded lands or reducing other crop uses (like animal feed) -- some of the existing and many of the proposed (jastropha) might make sense.

inchirieri apartamente cluj said...

Biofuels provided 1.8% of the world's transport fuel in 2008. I have heard that in Sweeden there are even busses that use water instead of fuel… We should try to give up the fuels that pollutes the atmosphere and use the ones that don't.