This
isn't new and it
doesn't show that biofuels are 'a bad thing'. It does clearly demonstrate that some biofuel producers are just in it for the money and don't give a damn about nature!
No one should be digging up virgin forest, especially in the tropics. Any biofuel production should be done on current agricultural land.
Governments need to take a firmer hand in what producers are allowed to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cohoctonwindwatch  Greenhouse Affect - WSJ.com Greenhouse Affect
The researchers break new ground by exposing a kind of mega-accounting error: Prior studies had never credited the carbon-dioxide emissions that arise when virgin forests, grasslands and the like are cleared to grow biofuel feedstocks. About 2.7 times more carbon is stored in terrestrial soils and plant material than in the atmosphere, and this carbon is released when these areas are cleared (often by burning) and the soil is tilled. Compounding problems is the loss of "carbon sinks" that absorb atmospheric CO2 in the bargain. Previous projections had also ignored the second-order effects of transferring normal farm land to biofuels, which exerts world-wide pressure on land use. |