ISSUES

Biofuels

At first sight, biofuels seem to be the answer to our future energy needs. They are said to be "carbon neutral', as they absorb as much carbon dioxide when growing as they emit when being burnt. And the idea of using the sun to grow our energy seems to be the best way forward.

Gordon Brown announced in the March 07 budget that the tax rebate for biofuels will be extended to 2020

But But But. Biofuels take up land - and energy - the amouint of fertiliser going in has to be factored into carbon counting. Of more concern is the land taken up Apart from the threat to food production that this poses, there are some other major problems.
Basically we havent got room. - See Biofuels Information. Land in S. America - where Brazil world leaders in bioethanol, rainforests being chopped to provide soya ...link to "deforestation".

Delft Hydraulics calculate that for every tonne of palm oil 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted. About a third is lost from the draining peat bogs and the rest come from forests being burnt to make way for plantations - particulalry Oil Palms. That is 10 X more CO2 than petrol produces. There are 2 billion tons of CO₂ lost like this in Indonesia and Malaysia - equivalent to about 8 percent of the globe's fossil fuel emissions. etroleum produces

Define Biofuels, bioethanol and biodiesel and their various sources.

Separate out "bad" biofuels = palm oil worst, followed by soya and sugar cane."Good" = "willow" - UK grown on crap land.

Biofuels

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