Bad to the Bone Biofuels

Posted by Mathew Klie-Cribb on Friday, October 30, 2009

Biofuel, a replacement for fossil fuels, is not as environmentally friendly as we thought.

Growing crops to be converted into biofuel indirectly causes substantial greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study published in science magazine.

The study says that growing biofuels will cause farmers to look for new land to grow food. This means more forests will be cleared. And the new food crops will release more carbon from the soil than where the biofuel crops are growing.

Fertilizers used to sustain food growth on the new land release substantial amounts of Nitrous oxide, a more effective heat trapper than carbon dioxide. The study comes with with a warning: since international policy makers under the Kyoto Protocol encourage biofuels, countries may take fuel production to extremes as they face more pressure to reduce greenhouse gasses.