Excerpt on agrofuels from “The Power to Change”

Biomass energy accounts for nearly half of the renewable energy currently produced in the United States. Biomass energy takes two primary forms. Biopower is produced when agricultural and forestry residues are used to generate heat and power. Biofuels are produced when the energy in crops and other plants are fermented into transportation fuels. When the feedstocks for biopower and biofuels are grown and harvested sustainably, biomass energy is truly renewable and carbon neutral. This is because the carbon dioxide that is released had previously been absorbed from the atmosphere by the plants. The forest products industry is the largest producer of biopower. It burns forest residues to produce heat and electricity. At other sites around the nation, crop residues and switchgrass are burned with coal to produce electricity, thus reducing the net emission of carbon dioxide. Studies indicate that up to 15 percent of all coal could be replaced with biomass if upgrades are made to coal-fired power plants. Still another use of biomass is to capture methane from the decomposition of organic matter found in landfills, sewage treatment plants and livestock facilities. Using this methane to produce heat or power is much wiser and more lucrative than letting this potent greenhouse gas enter the atmosphere.

Corn-based ethanol is currently the largest source of biofuel in the nation. The industry has grown rapidly in response to government incentives and market forces. It has been a boon to many farmers because corn prices have risen almost 50 percent in recent years. It has also benefited rural communities because just one ethanol facility that produces 40 million gallons per year can inject $140 million into the local economy. Today, approximately 20 percent of the U.S. corn harvest is utilized for ethanol production, and that percentage is rising. The Government Accountability Office projects that 30 percent of the nation’s corn crop may be devoted to ethanol production by 2012.110

There are many problems with corn-based ethanol production, however. Almost all corn in the nation is planted, fertilized, cultivated and harvested with machinery powered by fossil fuels. The fermentation and transportation of corn-based ethanol is also fossil fuel intensive. As a result, burning corn-based ethanol in gasoline tanks only lowers greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent.111 There are also other environmental problems. The production of ethanol is water-intensive and thus puts significant stress on local groundwater resources; it can also produce significant air and water pollution. Finally, there is good reason to fear that soil erosion will increase as rising prices encourage farmers to plant corn in some of the 35 million acres currently set aside for soil and wildlife conservation.112

Economically, the increased use of corn for transportation fuel is driving up the cost of grain for livestock producers as well as the cost of food in grocery stores. Globally, grain prices have reached their highest levels in a decade. As a result, the United States is purchasing about half the grain it bought to distribute as food aid in 2000.113 The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warns that rising food prices and reduced food supplies are increasing the likelihood for social unrest in developing countries.114 In 2006 the rapidly increasing price of tortilla flour led to riots in some parts of Mexico.115 Recently, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Right to Food called for a five-year moratorium on the production of first-generation liquid biofuels made from food crops such as corn, wheat, palm oil and rapeseed.116

Obviously there are serious problems associated with the way biofuels are currently being produced in the United States. Even if the entire corn crop were devoted to ethanol production, it would only produce 12 percent of the gasoline we consume. Devotion of the entire soy bean crop to biodiesel production would only replace six percent of the nation’s diesel consumption. 117 Key to biofuel production in the future will be new feedstocks and conversion technologies. While important technological challenges still need to be overcome, the potential of cellulosic ethanol is large because it produces ethanol from portions of plants not used for food and also from fast-growing trees and perennials like switch grass. Studies indicate that one-third of the nation’s current petroleum demand could be satisfied if cellulosic ethanol becomes commercially viable.118

There is clearly a great need for alternative fuels but the norm of precaution needs to be exercised, especially when genetic engineering is employed to develop new crops for biofuel production. Just as government incentives to spur corn-based ethanol production have had unforeseen and deleterious consequences, so too could genetic engineering of biofuels feedstocks if this research is not conducted carefully and regulated closely.

FOOTNOTES:

110. Tom Doggett, “Ethanol to take 30 pct of U.S. corn crop in 2012: GAO,” Reuters, June 11, 2007, accessed online September 17, 2007.
111. Editorial, “The High Costs of Ethanol,” The New York Times, September 19, 2007.
112. Joel K. Boure, Jr., “Green Dreams,” National Geographic Magazine, October 2007.
113. Celia W. Dugger, “As Prices Soar, U.S. Food Aid Buys Less,” The New York Times, September 29, 2007, accessed online the same day.
114. Editorial, “The High Costs of Ethanol,” The New York Times, September 19, 2007.
115. Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer, “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor,” Foreign Affairs (May/June 2007), accessed online December 7, 2007 .
116. United Nations General Assembly, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food,” August 22, 2007, p. 14, accessed online November 3, 2007.
117. Joel K. Boure Jr., “Green Dreams,” National Geographic Magazine, October 2007.
118. Worldwatch Institute and Center for American Progress, American Energy: The Renewable Path to Energy Security, p. 23.

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