The arguments against expanding use of biofuels

Introduction

For decades, biofuels seemed to promise a clean, sustainable, environmentally friendly way to produce fuel, which will promote energy independence and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Ziegler 1). But even when governments and corporations are finally throwing its weight behind biofuel production, small but vocal chorus of critics claims that biofuels are at best a waste of effort, and at worst damage. Some critics even question whether biofuels will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or even increase them.

Although ethanol was used as a fuel for transportation in the early twentieth century, it was the oil shocks of 1970, prompting the U.S. government and others to encourage home-grown ethanol industry through tax incentives, regulation and research grants. But most of the time use of biofuels struggled against a relatively low price of oil, making it difficult for them to be economically competitive(Pimentel Patzek 65).

Now, with oil prices in the U.S. is approaching triple digits, concerns about potentially dwindling oil supplies and the threat of climate change combine to give impetus to biofuels, which proponents believe will make them a real source of fuel.

Concerns

Even more worrying is that the growth in demand for biofuels will lead to farmers cut down forests to plant more corn, sugar cane, oil palm trees or soybeans. According to the analysis Renton Righelato of the World Land Trust in Suffolk and Dominick V. Spracklen from Leeds University, resulting in forest land will sequester 8:58 times more carbon than the 30-year period will be retained by biofuels(Farrell 506). Criticism of biofuels is on several fronts. Some critics argue that biofuels will require more energy than they produce. Others believe that biofuels will use resources that could go to feeding people. Others worry about the environmental damage that would be caused by farming more land - the damage that they say could lead to increased emissions of greenhouse gases. It is even cast as a question of human rights, as critics fear that more indigenous people will be forced to leave their land to make way for biofuel plantations.

Disadvantages of biomass energy:

Burning of wood and other biomass, produces carbon dioxide, thus adding to global warming. In some cases, wood from the forest and in such cases, instead of a smaller ratio of carbon emitted carbon film, the ratio increases significantly(Doornbosch Steenblik 4). This means that ...