Australia: Biofuel industry doubts

Promoting a biofuel industry makes little economic or environmental sense unless agriculture expands in the tropical north, a farming think-tank says.

The latest issue of the Australian Farm Institute’s Farm Policy Journal says governments should invest in technology that can make biofuel from cellulose in the leaves and stalks of crops, otherwise crops will have to be planted for fuel or food. Not enough is produced for both.
Institute executive director Mick Keogh said that “global biofuel experiences show that crop-based biofuels are generally only viable with high levels of government support, and have at best a limited capacity to meet future energy needs”.

If all of Australia’s wheat and sugar output was diverted to produce ethanol, it would supply only about 20 per cent of the fuel needed for transport. The belief that biofuel helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions was also questionable, Mr Keogh said.

The Age