![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jul. 26th, 2007 07:59 amBiofuels are not quite as carbon neutral as some would have you believe
Plus, remember, the push for biofuels (at least in the US) isn't being driven by market forces. Because the corn farming lobby has never met a subsidy it couldn't increase (and these aren't your mom and pop farms either. Corn farms are almost exclusively commercial and I haven't seen any gasoline marketed as "organic" yet, have you?).
"Just growing corn requires expending energy – plowing, planting,fertilizing, and harvesting all require machinery that burns fossilfuel. Modern agriculture relies on large amounts of fertilizer andpesticides, both of which are produced by methods that consume fossilfuels. Then there's the cost of transporting the corn to an ethanolplant, where the fermentation and distillation processes consume yetmore energy. Finally, there's the cost of transporting the fuel tofilling stations. And because ethanol is more corrosive than gasoline,it can't be pumped through relatively efficient pipelines, but must betransported by rail or tanker truck."
...
"Intensive harvesting erodes soil; massive use of fertilizerscontributes to the eutrophication of rivers and lakes and the reductionof fish and aquatic life habitat; widespread use of pesticidescontaminates water and soil; and extensive irrigation for cornmonoculture depletes water resources."
Plus, remember, the push for biofuels (at least in the US) isn't being driven by market forces. Because the corn farming lobby has never met a subsidy it couldn't increase (and these aren't your mom and pop farms either. Corn farms are almost exclusively commercial and I haven't seen any gasoline marketed as "organic" yet, have you?).
"Left on its own, the market in time would find a balance between foodand fuel production. As it is, the billions in subsidies areencouraging a dramatic rise in biofuel production that would nototherwise occur. "This is partly why the UN food agencies are worried.Too much biofuel is coming to the market too quickly and the casualtiesmight be the poor who can't afford the sharply rising food prices."
