Biofuel - is it good or bad for the environment?
Posted by DavidM in Biofuel, Driving | 29 May 2008
Biofuel has been touted by many - including me - as the environmentally friendly alternative to petrol for some years. But recently it has had a lot of negative publicity, so is biofuel good or bad for the environment?
I've written before about a 1998 study carried out by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the US Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture that confirmed the lifecycle environmental cost of biodiesel is far better than that of petroleum-based diesel. Environmentalists agree that crop-based fuel only releases the carbon it absorbs, so is better than fossil fuels which release previously stored carbon.
That's why from mid-April the UK government mandated that 2.5% of all petrol sold from filling stations must be crop-based. The move looks like a great step in reducing carbon emissions.
However, environmentalists are up in arms claiming biofuels are not sustainable and are adding to soaring food prices and deforestation. Although it's a year old, there's a really good post on Jamie's Blog on the Greenpeace website that talks through the issues.
Essentially, it comes down to where the biofuel comes from. If we grow crops for biofuel on existing arable land, it reduces the space available to grow food for the 6 billion people we need to feed. The recent headlines about food riots in the Far East highlight the problems we are already experiencing.
The alternative is to create more arable land and rainforests are now being uprooted not only for the timber but to plant palms - one source of biofuel. Given that rainforests are probably the single most important weapon against climate change this is a very bad move.
So biofuel must be avoided then?
I don't think so. As with many things it's about being a discerning shopper. There are different types of biofuel based on different sources. I buy my biodiesel from Enfuels who make it from waste cooking oil that would otherwise be dumped. This is the ideal source and I'm not convinced the majority of waste oil is recycled in this way.
Otherwise you definitely want to avoid palm based products or anything where the source material comes from unsustainable areas such as rainforests.
The problem is the big oil companies - who will be the main buyers or producers - are unlikely to be so picky. That's why we need the legislation to be clear about acceptable sources of biofuel. Otherwise we solve one problem by creating an even bigger one.
