The Myth of Biofuels

Recent studies about the impacts caused by fossil fuels contributed in highlighting the theme of bioenergy. The energy matrix is composed of petroleum (35%), coal (23%) and natural gas (21%). On their own, the ten richest countries consume 80% of the energy produced in the world. Amongst these, the USA is responsible for 25% of pollution to the atmosphere. Analysts estimate that within 25 years, the world demand for petroleum, natural gas and coal may have an increase of 80%. The Myth of Biofuels

by Edivan Pinto, Marluce Melo and Maria Luisa Mendonça
www.dissidentvoice.org

March 11, 2007

Recent studies about the impacts caused by fossil fuels contributed in highlighting the theme of bioenergy. The energy matrix is composed of petroleum (35%), coal (23%) and natural gas (21%). On their own, the ten richest countries consume 80% of the energy produced in the world. Amongst these, the USA is responsible for 25% of pollution to the atmosphere. Analysts estimate that within 25 years, the world demand for petroleum, natural gas and coal may have an increase of 80%.

The acceleration of global warming is a fact that places in risk life on the planet. It is necessary, however, to demystify the principal solution presented at the moment and spread through propaganda about the supposed benefits of biofuels. The idea of "renewable" energy must be dismissed from a viewpoint that takes into account the negative effects of these sources.

The propaganda of "green fuel" or "clean energy" has been amply divulged in Brazil. "Used as a substitute to petroleum derivatives, both ethanol and biodiesel become instruments capable of deterring global warming," affirms an article in the magazine Global Rural (November 2006).

On the other hand, there are several studies that contradict this idea. Specialist in genetics and biochemistry, Professor Mae-Wan-Ho of the University of Hong-Kong, explains that "biofuels have been presented and considered erroneously as 'neutral in carbon,' as if they didn't contribute to the green house effect; when they are burnt, the carbon dioxide that the plants absorb when they develop in the fields, is returned to the atmosphere. Thus the costs of the CO2 emissions are ignored as is also the emission of energy from fertilizers and pesticides used in the harvests, the use of agricultural machinery, the processing and refining, the transport and the infrastructure for distribution." For the researcher, the extra energy costs and of the carbon emissions are even greater when the biofuels are produced in one country and exported to another.

A study by the Belgian Cabinet for Scientific Affairs shows similar results: "Biodiesel provokes more health and environmental problems because it creates pollution that is more pulverized, frees more pollutants that promote the destruction of the ozone layer."

About ethanol production, Mae-Wan-Ho explains that, "it was not taken into consideration the enormous liberation of carbon from the organic soil provoked by the intensive sugar cane culture which substitutes forests and pasture lands that, if they were regenerated, would save more than seven tons of CO2 per hectare per year than what bioethanol saves." Besides this, each liter of ethanol produced consumes about four liters of water, which represents a risk of greater scarcity of natural water sources and aquifers (groundwater).

In the case of soya, the most optimistic estimates indicate that the balance in favor of renewable energy produced for each unit of fossil energy spent in the cultivation is less than two units. This is due to the high consumption of petroleum used in fertilizers and in the agricultural machinery. Besides this, the expansion of soya has caused enormous devastation to forest and cerrado in Brazil.

Even so, soya has been presented by the Brazilian government as the principal culture for biodiesel, by the fact of Brazil being one of the biggest producers in the world. "The soya culture emerges as the jewel in the crown of the Brazilian agro-business. Soya can be considered the lever which will permit the opening of biofuel markets," state researchers at EMBRAPA - Brazilian Company of Agropecuary Research. (Revista de Poltica Agricola, Ano XIV, no. 1, Jan-Feb-Mar, 2005).

Full: http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar07/Pinto-Melo-Mendonca11.htm