Biofuels production today can be more harmful than help-
ful, says the Worldwatch Insti-tute’s ‘Red, White, and Green: Transforming US Biofuels’ report coauthor Jane Earley.

She explains that concerns about energy security and climate change, as well as a range of US government incen-tives, fuelled the production of an estimated 9,5-billion gallons of biofuels in the US last year alone, which is a 39% increase on the country’s 2007 production.

The steady rise in ethanol con-sumption reduced US demand for petrol by about 5% and accounts for 20% of the increase in domestic maize prices, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

“As a renewable-energy source, bioenergy should con-tinue to be seen as a promising part of a sustainable-energy future, but we must begin the transition to second- and third-
generation biofuels immedi-ately,” she warns.

She notes that studies suggest that the environmental costs 
associated with the current bio-
fuels industry, including water pollution, wildlife habitat loss and declining freshwater resources, are likely to outweigh the benefits biofuels offer.

She states: “Claims about the 
climate change benefits of bio-
fuels are often inflated, as many of these fuels in production today lead to minimal, if any, reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.”

The report emphasises that 
diversification of feedstocks and technologies, which includes production of ‘second-generation’ fuels, such as cellu-
losic ethanol and third-genera-
tion fuels, such as algae bio-diesel, will provide a more stable basis for large-scale bio-fuel production. It also argues for the increased use of biomass for electricity production, including for transportation by way of electric vehicles.

“Current best estimates sug-
gest that maize ethanol provides only a 12% to 18% net reduction in emissions, on average, com-
pared with petrol. If a land that 
is rich in carbon is converted from forests or other natural ecosystems to biofuels produc-tion, these benefits can fall away completely,” says the report.

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