Studies indicate that good intentions for the fuel crisis are causing more harm than benefit. According to Jason Hill, a leader of the study at the University of Minnesota, we are rushing into a good theory without considering all aspects and possible consequences. The process of creating biofuel crops from farmland may actually increase the output of greenhouse gases. At least, the benefits would not be significant until far into the future. The study calculated time for benefits from ethanol production to be about 167 years.
Some background info:
- U.S. production of ethanol has increased by over 4.9 billion per year since 2000.
- In the United States, ethanol provides nearly 5% of transportation fuel. (Renewable Fuels Association.)
- 2007 federal legislature has promoted doubling ethanol production in the next 10 years.
- The main crops used for alternate fuels have been corn, palm oil, sugar cane, and soybeans.
Because they are carbon neutral (the carbon released is balanced by carbon taken in naturally by the crops), these fuels do have great potential. It is the process of obtaining them which is presenting the challenge. Clearing land to create biofuel plantation is releasing large amounts of CO2 into the air. It means overturning the soil and leaving vegetation that isn’t burned away simply to rot. A side effect is that the earth has fewer “natural sponges” to take in the carbon. Plantations don’t take in nearly as much CO2 as rainforests or grasslands. The effects are harsher in some areas than in others. In a study in Indonesia, for example, researchers found that clearing one rainforest released such a large amount of carbon that a net reduction wouldn’t be likely for over 400 years.
How are scientists approaching the problem? Many encourage exploring the benefits of municipal trash and crop waste further. These areas present a daunting task of supplying necessary technology, however. Some farmers in the United States have been replacing soybean fields with cornfields in response to the ethanol demand. As a result, other areas of the world are clearing more land for the soybean demand. It’s a cycle that continues with no serious net reduction in carbon emissions, if any. Though considered carbon neutral, biofuel systems also must take into account the additional emissions from transportation and production.
Heavy equipment works the site of the First United Ethanol, LLC plant in Mitchell County near Camilla, Ga., Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007. First United Ethanol LLC, founded in 2005 by farmers and businessmen from 13 counties looking for ways to enhance the value of Georgia farm products, is building a dry mill ethanol facility capable of producing 100 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year. The $170 million facility is expected to use 36 million bushels of corn. (AP Photo/The Albany Herald, Don Stalvey)http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-biofuel8feb08,1,7253036.story?ctrack=2&cset=true http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/science/earth/08wbiofuels.html?ex=1360126800&en=93ca489d8380138f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
