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February 8, 2008
Interesting - Clearing Land to Grow Biofuel Increases Net Carbon Emissions by 17-420x.
(February 8, 2008) - As regular readers will know, I am not a fan of policies that would would undermine global growth in the name of global warming. Near the top of my list, just below cap-and-trade scams, are the massive biofuel programs that have driven up food prices everywhere and dramatically reduced the real incomes of low-income people both in and outside the US.
The current issue of Science magazine has a teaser for an upcoming article, Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt, by Fargione, Hill, Tilman, Polasky and Hawthorne which shows that large-scale biofuel operations actually increase carbon emissions by altering patterns of land-use. The abstract is below:
Increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a ‘biofuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages.
Interesting.
JR
Posted by John Rutledge at February 8, 2008 10:30 PM
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Comments
Even the MSM are beginning to catch on to the global warming scam; your warnings are beginning to penetrate. This article http://www.scragged.com/articles/biofuels-the-non-renewable-resource.aspx points out that ALL plants take SOMETHING from the soil and references an article in Newsweek which talks about how much forest has been cut down for biofuel plants. http://www.scragged.com/articles/the-hot-air-of-climate-change-part-1.aspx
goes into the faulty science and explains why they're so eager to mislead us.
Keep the articles coming!
Thanks, Thomas. Will do.
John
Posted by: Thomas Moore at February 11, 2008 3:54 PM
The you might like this article: http://www.scragged.com/articles/biofuels-the-non-renewable-resource.aspx
Actually, you'd probably like the rest of the site too.
That article just speaks to the Biofuel issue.
Posted by: lfon at February 11, 2008 2:42 PM