Biofuels Bad for the Environment (Feb 08)


	Biofuels Bad for the Environment (Feb 08)
TripodGirl
5-24-2009 1:36 PM
133 views
tags:
global warming, climate change, biofuels
TripodGirl says:
The last line is especially noteworthy: we know less than we think we do about these matters.

We therefore risk unintended consequences that could make things worse rather than better.
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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/9d7f21ed-e573-45f5-8a6c-8afd7a6aefa3/2E712742-62F9-40A8-977B-CAA3CA106038/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/" href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/" style="font-size: 11px;">freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/">two newly-released studies reported that <A 
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/science/earth/08wbiofuels.html?_r=1&amp;oref=slogin">the 
net environmental effect of using biofuels may be even more harmful</A> than 
burning the gasoline they were created to replace. <SPAN id=more-2316></SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/">The first study</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/">found that replacing fossil fuels with corn-based ethanol could actually 
<EM>double</EM> greenhouse gas emissions for the next thirty years. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/">The second study,</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/">found that by switching to biofuels, we could essentially be worsening climate 
change for the next 93 years</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-and-the-minefield-of-unintended-consequences/"><P getHeight="function() {
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}">So in a matter of days, biofuels go from a celebrated fossil fuels alternative to a rainforest-killing disaster, with scientists already calling for government reform on biofuel policies. If anything, this provides a window into how little we actually know about this issue, and the wide lengths left to go in reaching a viable solution.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/2E712742-62F9-40A8-977B-CAA3CA106038/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>
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