[Terrapreta] [Gasification] new studies on GHG footprint ofbiofuels darkens the picture

[Peter Read]

Hi Lewis



A propos carbon effectiveness of biofuels versus petroleum, transportation fuels are only a fraction of the barrel and associated fuel oil gets burned too.   Nobody prospects for oil in order to sell fuel oil and if the transportation fractions are substituted for it is relatively easy to substitute for the fuel oil, e.g. with wood pellets, better home insulation, or whatever.  I doubt that co-produced fuel oil is taken into account in many of the negative analyses of biofuels that seem to be going about.  But obviously we must look forward to second generation biofuel technologies.  Does anyone have an up-to-date survey of where we stand with these?



A propos food versus fuel I have been preparing a brief for some parliamentarians here in New Zealand in relation to legislation for a biofuels obligation and have written:



"The rapid expansion of first generation biofuels in response to high price oil has led to competition for land and to raised food prices which have widely received a negative press.  This expansion has been based on large scale land clearance and monocultural cropping of oil palm, maize and sugar cane in the style of the industrialized agriculture of the green revolution.  

 

Although high food prices impact on the urban poor, they bring welcome relief to the rural poor in developing countries, where agricultural producers have been excluded from export markets by the protection given to producers in industrialized countries.  And of course welcome prosperity to agricultural producers in the developed world that are exposed to world markets, including New Zealand, with dairying booming.

 

As with all economic adjustments, the transition process is painful for some and the extent to which losers should be eased through the transition, slowing the benefits of adjustment but reducing inequity, is a question of policy in different countries.  It is a transition that will see a shift in the rural-urban balance of employment opportunities, slowing and maybe reversing the drift from the land that underlies some of the social problems of developing countries. 

 

But this adjustment issue should not detract from the reality that cheap food has resulted from a green revolution in which soil quality and quantity has been depleted by erosion and reduced soil carbon through monoculture production based on fossil fuel based inorganic fertilizers and polluting pest control methods.  Described as 'field hydroponics' these methods yield low quality food lacking in elements essential to good nutrition and are in any case unsustainable in relation to both dwindling oil supplies and greenhouse gas concerns as well as soil quality.  In brief, cheap food is bad food, nutritionally and environmentally."  

Comments invited
Peter
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: MMBTUPR at aol.com 
  To: jimmason at whatiamupto.com ; gasification at listserv.repp.org ; mechabolic at spaceship.com ;     
  Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 4:28 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] [Gasification] new studies on GHG footprint ofbiofuels darkens the picture


            from          Lewis L Smith

  While I have not read the "new studies" alluded to, in the NYT article, I have both petroleum and bioenergy experience going back to 1966. So it is very hard for me to believe that all forms of bioenergy have a worse impact on global warming than petroleum fuels.

  Moreover, I am highly suspicious of people who make sweeping generalizations about bioenergy. Of all the renewables, bioenergy has by far the richest variety of inputs, processes and outputs. Moreover, the projects are very sensitive to site conditions. So there should be something for almost everyone and almost every place. You  just have to do your "homework" and come up with a good configuration for your neighborhood, something which pontificators seem reluctant to do. 

  [ Too much like hard work ? ]

  There are in fact, few currently useful generalizations that one can make about bioenergy. One of the few is that if you insist on replacing most US gasoline with ethanol derived from corn, you will drive up the price of pizza in Chicago, spaghetti in Rome and tortillas in Mexico !  Otherwise I would tend to err on the cautious side.

  Cordially.  ###


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