Because these German scientists are saying something that a lot of us were thinking:
Biofuels, once championed as the great hope for fighting climate change, could end up being more damaging to the environment than oil or gasoline. A new study has found that the growth and use of crops to make biofuels produces more damaging greenhouse gases than previously thought.
German Nobel-prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen and his team of researchers have calculated the emissions released by the growth and burning of crops such as maize, rapeseed and cane sugar to produce biofuels. The team of American, British and German scientists has found that the process releases twice as much nitrous oxide (N2O) as previously thought. They estimate that 3 to 5 percent of nitrogen in fertilizer is converted and emitted, as opposed to the 2 percent used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its calculations.
Crutzen is widely respected in the field of climate research, having received the Nobel Prize in 1995 for his research into the ozone layer. The study, published in the scientific journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, finds that the growth and use of biofuels produced from rapeseed and maize can produce 70 percent and 50 percent more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels.
7 comments:
Hemp. Hemp. Hemp.
Okay, I've said my peace. :)
Okay, I should point out that hemp oil is non-nitrogenous, to the best of my knowledge. There cannot be NO2 produced by using it.
Or N2O, even. :)
NO2 or N2O... I'll rely on my chemist husband to make sense of it. But hemp, I hear you. The stigma about this amazing plant is such a hurdle, I doubt we will ever get to use its full potential.
Maybe some small island country like the Tuvalu islands could start cultivating it to show the world what you could do with it. The US won't touch it until they see the profit in it...
Couple of observations: ETOH does not have to be made from foodstocks. For instance, algae can be a very good source.
And, rather than Ethanol, a better bio-fuel is Butanol (BTOH), a four carbon alcohol which can be used in current gasoline engines without modification.
These are only transitional steps, as we need to move away from combustion engines, but they are steps we can take now.
Unfortunately, the current ethanol programs are in the hands of corporations who only care about profit.
Those darn Germans, they need to take some of Senator Vitter's improved science curriculum.
Pygalgia, good to know about Butanol. I'll keep my eyes open for any kind of research on it.
And Sorghum Crow, I'm sure people would pay really close attention to Senator Vitter and his 'educational' ideas if he also promises the same extra-curricular activities that he participates in...
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