The Biofuel Future

The only way that biofuels will add up is if they produce more energy than it takes to make them. Yet, depending on the crops and the logistics of production, some analyses suggest that it may take more energy to make these fuels than they will provide. And if growing biofuels creates the same environmental problems that plague much of large-scale agriculture, then air and water quality might not really improve. Prized ecosystems such as rain forests, wetlands and savannas could be destroyed to grow crops. Biofuels done badly, scientists say, could go very, very wrong.
The research suggests that there is not one silver bullet source for biofuels. While there are some generally desirable plant characteristics — such as needing few nutrients and flourishing on degraded land — the future biofuels landscape will likely be a patchwork of different sources that work best in different regions.

“What’s emerging pretty quickly is how site-specific both the production systems and problems are,” says Muth.

Yet concerns remain that the environmental side of the biofuels equation is still not worked out. Some argue that the numbers are too fuzzy to proceed with confidence that environmental burdens and benefits have been fully considered.

Science News