Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt.
Increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food crop-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a "biofuel carbon debt" by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions that these biofuels would provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on degraded and abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and can offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages.
Fargione
Joseph
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The Nature Conservancy, 1101 West River Parkway, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA.
Hill
Jason
J
Tilman
David
D
Polasky
Stephen
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Hawthorne
Peter
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D018533:Biomass; D001938:Brazil; D002244:Carbon; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D017753:Ecosystem; D004736:Energy-Generating Resources; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D007214:Indonesia; D008296:Malaysia; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism; D012987:Soil; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
D012987:Soil; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002244:Carbon