Some ‘green’ options could create more problems

Our natural support systems include forests, oceans and wetlands, and they provide many services for free, such as recycling nutrients and wastes, regulating the atmosphere and supporting biological diversity. These systems will be affected by climate change, but if they are allowed to function naturally, they can evolve and adapt, and support us in future. If we destroy them, or impede their function, we lose our insurance policy for future survival on Planet Earth.

Some of the renewable energy options currently being considered may destroy ecosystems of incalculable value, and could create more problems than they solve
Take bio-energy. We have been growing crops for processing into oils and alcohols for centuries: sugar is an obvious example: Brazil has replaced over 25% of the petroleum it uses for transport with bio-ethanol produced from sugar, a crop that grows well in many parts of that country. There are many advantages: energy crops can reduce CO2 emissions if growing conditions are favourable, and if managed properly could be renewable far into the future. In Wales, willow trees are fast growing and are replacing fossil fuels for certain uses, as can forest offcuts and other waste products.

We shouldn’t assume that all bio-energy is sustainable though, or that it can be produced on such a scale that it replaces our current demand for petroleum. The UK has a target of replacing 5% of our fossil-fuel-based transport fuels with biodiesel and bioethanol.

If this was to be met from UK produced oilseed rape and wheat, it would require about 1.9 million hectares to grow it, 32% of the UK’s arable land. If we were to replace all our transport petroleum with biofuels, we would need all the UK’s arable land and almost six times the same land area elsewhere in the world.

Globally, pressure on food supplies would be huge, and forests cleared at an unprecedented rate. Those same forests store carbon, and the resulting decomposition and cultivation would release huge quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, negating the value of the biofuel in the battle against climate change.

icWales