Biofuels not the whole answer

I spotted this and was surprised to read the conlusions. With everyone jumping on the biofuel band wagon, this view is loaded with a good dose of reality.

Ecologist: Biofuels only part of energy solution
By Alex Paul
Albany Democrat-Herald

CORVALLIS — If every acre of farmland in the United States was devoted to the production of corn, soybeans or other crops suitable for biofuels production, it still wouldn’t provide more than a small percentage of the world’s total energy needs, ecologist G. David Tilman of the University of Minnesota said Monday evening at Oregon State University.

Tilman’s talk, “Getting Biofuels Right: The Biofuel vs. Food and Environment Dilemma,” was part of a year-long series at OSU called “Food for Thought: History, Technology, Gastronomy,” sponsored by the Horning Endowment in the Humanities.

The world is not going to run out of oil or coal for at least 100 years, maybe 200 years, Tilman said. The problem is that the use of either adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Tilman said that in the next 50 years, global population is expected to climb from 6 billion to 9 billion people and level off. During that same time period, per capita income is expected to rise by 140 percent. More people with more expendable income will lead to a demand for more and better food, Tilman contends.

“There are immense, major implications if we want future generations to have a good quality of life,” Tilman said. He said because corn prices in the United States have nearly doubled in recent years due to demands from ethanol producers, poor countries that rely on corn products for food — such as Mexico — are being squeezed.

Removing the best farmland from food production and dedicating crops to biofuels will not be enough to meet the increased demands, Tilman contends. Instead, marginal farmlands could be planted with native plants and grasses. The University of Minnesota has been conducting long-term tests that show native plants can be grown on marginal or poor soils. They can provide mass for biofuels and improve the soil at the same time. And that’s without using expensive fertilizer or irrigation systems.

Tilman said the net energy gain over fossil fuels with current biofuels technology is only 6 percent for ethanol produced from corn, but it’s 48 percent for biodiesel produced from soybeans. That’s because it takes natural gas, or electricity produced from coal products, to power the process.

Although biofuels won’t be the only answer, they can be an important piece in a multi-faceted approach to the world’s energy needs, Tilman said.

“We can do it,” Tilman said of making the right changes happen. “We’ve faced many problems over the last 10,000 years in agriculture and we will handle this just as well as we have in the past.”

Tilman suggests these other key energy shift needs:

* Increased energy efficiencies in our vehicles (increase gas mileage from 25 to 50 mpg). offices (heating/cooling, insulation, lighting) and homes (downsizing).

* Renewable energy through wind, waves and solar power.

* Biofuels from waste materials such as crop residue that traditionally has been left in the fields. Globally, this amounts to about 700 million tons of biomass per year. Forestry slash would add another 900 million tons of material per year.

* Produce biofuels on degraded lands that have been abandoned from agriculture or from the marginal lands enrolled in government set-aside programs.

Plus go recheck the economics - especially with ethanol showing a net gain of 6% - very generous in my opinion. Then look at the 46% advantage for soy biodiesel - the path is clear. But Mr Tilman goes right tothe heart of the problem - we need more high mpg vehicles - this is doable and atainable and it is a very real approach- use less fuel. From the 2000 presidential race " It’s the (gas) economy"

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