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Report: Governments Should Phase Out Emphasis On Bioenergy

A report released by a global research group recommends that governments cease most attempts to bolster bioenergy production, arguing they "undercut efforts to combat climate change and to achieve a sustainable food future." The analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute said dedicating property that...

A report released by a global research group recommends that governments cease most attempts to bolster bioenergy production, arguing they "undercut efforts to combat climate change and to achieve a sustainable food future."

The analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute said dedicating property that would otherwise be used for food crops to crops used for energy increases competition for land.

The report also said bioenergy production is too inefficient to realistically meet global energy needs, and that governments often overstate its impact on reducing carbon emissions.

"Studies that find bioenergy reduces greenhouse gases incorrectly view plants as a carbon-free fuel and ignore the very real carbon emitted by burning them," wrote WRI Senior Fellow Tim Searchinger.

The report argued such studies effectively "double-count" the effect on carbon, incorrectly assuming that the carbon absorbed by growing plants will offset burning them later on. In addition, the report pointed out using sugarcane or corn for fuel only converts a tiny fraction of solar energy into ethanol.

Instead, the report said landfill methane, winter cover crops and other unused farm or timber byproducts have the ability to reduce greenhouse gases relative to fossil fuels, though "their potential to meet a sizeable share of human energy needs is modest."

In addition, the report said increasing biofuel goals would exacerbate a 70 percent "food gap" -- the difference between currently available crop calories and projected global need -- between 2006 and 2050. Moreover, establishing the bioenergy threshold at 20 percent of energy demand, the analysis said, would require doubling the current output of all plant material worldwide.

"The world does not have the room," Searchinger wrote.

The WRI report, in part, recommended phasing out subsidies and regulations for transportation biofuels and maintaining current ethanol standards in gasoline, while exempting fuels grown on dedicated land from low-carbon fuel standards.

In the U.S., between 30 and 40 percent of the corn crop is used for vehicle fuel purposes, while the United Kingdom and other European counties have utilized wood pellets to replace coal-fired energy. The biofuel push in recent years has led to concerns about rising food prices, though the U.S. corn industry argues fluctuations in the crop's price "do not significantly affect consumer food prices."

Meanwhile, a recent study by MIT researchers estimated biofuels could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent, though it also raised concerns about deforestation that would be required to produce energy crops.

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