Renewable fuels may have hidden costs, study says
A global push toward production of biofuels, advocated by many as a measure to curb greenhouse gas emissions, could have exactly the opposite effect unless adequate controls are put in place, a new study has found. Because forests, which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, could end up being cut down to create new cropland as a result of intensive agriculture for fuels, a gallon of biofuel could ironically end up being responsible for twice as much greenhouse gas emission as a gallon of gasoline. This indirect impact from biofuels production is "an inescapable effect" unless regulations control it, but it cannot directly be measured, says John Reilly, associate director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. Reilly, along with five other MIT researchers, is a co-author of the new study, being published Oct. 23 in Science. The lead author is Jerry Melillo...
Read the whole article on MIT Research
More from MIT Research
Related
- Seeing the forest and the trees helps cut atmospheric carbon dioxideFri, 13 Feb 2009, 18:37:15 EST
- New study predicts future consequences of a global biofuels programThu, 22 Oct 2009, 14:40:33 EDT
- Some biofuels might do more harm than good to the environment, study findsTue, 27 May 2008, 13:28:39 EDT
- Cellulosic biofuel technology will generate low-cost green fuel, says major studyWed, 4 Mar 2009, 9:48:04 EST
- Genomes of biofuel yeasts reveal clues that could boost fuel ethanol production worldwideThu, 5 Nov 2009, 18:42:21 EST