The great biofuels con

Discussion in 'Economics' started by OddTrader, Jul 15, 2008.

  1. The great biofuels con
    http://www.theage.com.au/environmen...20080714-3f0q.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

    "Growing crops for oil was supposed to solve global warming. Now, as food prices soar, biofuels stand condemned as a crime against humanity. "

    "Over the next 10 years, the cause was driven by these two quite separate concerns.

    On the one hand, particularly in the US, a powerful lobby grew up among farmers who were encouraged by their governments to see biofuels as a lucrative source of income (in the US alone, annual biofuel production now tops 9 billion gallons).

    On the other, led by the UN, the world was encouraged to see biofuels as key to the fight against global warming. No one took this up more enthusiastically than the leaders of the EU, who in 1997 adopted a "renewables" policy setting a target of 5.75% of all transport fuel to be made up of biofuel by 2010."
     
  2. Solution: Do not use farmland to grow biofuels that only have marginal energy returns. Sorry corn farmers. Enough biofuels could be grown from algae farms in the desert to supply fuel for the whole country.

    Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae
     
  3. doli

    doli

    Don't tell Senator Grassley about this.
     
  4. Exactly corn ethanol is a scam, current output net negative, unless you are farmer or lobbyist.