Summary:
Vinod Khosla arguing that a ban on all biofuels would be a mistake. There is room for biofuel crop production without affecting food supply or the environment. E.g. waste from forestry operations, agricultural crop waste, municipal organic waste and sewage. Winter cover crops would use land that sits idle during winter. Reducing the renewable fuel mandates would reduce investment in these alternatives and in improving the quality of cellulosic biofuels. Instead he proposes a policies and an impact rating to incentivise the production of biofuels that are environmentally beneficial. (Published: 16/06/08)
Notes:
- biofuels: refers to a variety of products that vary dramatically in their environmental impact and effects on food prices
- cellulosic ethanol production can reduce carbon emissions 75% while producing ethanol at a lower cost than corn ethanol and gasoline
- concerns about amount of water and corn required to produce a gallon of ethanol
- 16-ounce steak takes about the same amount of corn and more water
- ban steaks?
- cellulosic fuels mandate:
- congress has required oil refiners and fuel blenders to use up to 36billion gallons of renewable fuels produced in America annually
- attacked by critics
- but: reducing it could be disasterous for energy security and the environment
- better: build flexibility into the standard related to price and availability of cellulosic biofuels
- sufficient biomass exists as waste from forestry operations to meet the cellulosic fuels mandate (21 billions) in the 2007 energy bill
- if we include agricultural crop waste, municipal organic waste and sewage, all 36 billion gallons could be produced within 10 years
- approaching $1/gallon
- adding winter cover crops to land that sits idle during winter (about half of the land used for agriculture)
- could replace most of our gasoline imports
- could produce 450 million tons of biomass a year within 10 years, and more than 750 million tons by 2030
- not an additional acre of land being used for biofuels
- Ed Shafer (US Agriculture Secretary):
- "On the international level, only 3% of the more than 40% increase we have seen in world food prices this year is due to the increased demand on corn for ethanol"
- LECG analysis:
- Oil prices affect the US consumer price index for food two to three times as much as corn prices
- Merril Lynch:
- If biofuels were taken off the market, oil prices would climb 15%, putting further upward pressure on food prices
- source of corn and cellulosic ethanol matters
- if ethanol is produced on lands that displace food production into rain forests, its environmental effect will be negative
- need national and international policies that create incentives for countries such as Brazil and Malaysia to preserve their rain forests through carbon credits while banning biofuels from countries that do not meet rain forest deforestation reduction targets
- incentivise production of biofuels that are environmentally beneficial
- e.g. carbon/land/air quality/water impact rating
- if we reduce renewable fuel mandates, we are likely to reduce investment in next-generation cellulosic biofuels
- need to focus on improving the quality of biofuels and reducing our oil dependence
