This month’s buzzword in the world of biofuel production is Caution. The United Nations Environment Programme’s most recent report covers the issue of alternative energy in the face of growing sustainability needs. The report is a compilation of a large number of recent studies on biofuels and conducts a data analysis on the effectiveness, sustainability and environmental impacts of alternative energy production today. Unfortunately, the results are not as positive as many scientists had hoped.

The UNEP report cautions that biofuel production, if not performed in a sustainable manner from start to finish can actually cause an increase in gas emissions. It states that some production methods, such as the clearing of the Indonesian rainforest to grow palm plantations for the production of biodiesel, have the potential to emit far more greenhouse gases than they prevent through the production of the biofuel.

The study also analyses whether biofuel studies today have a well-rounded picture of the impact of their work on the environment. It assesses that though most studies have an excellent grip on the acidification and eutrophication effects of their efforts, few to no studies sufficiently discussed the toxicity potential or biodiversity changes that might occur as a result of their biofuel production process.

United Nations undersecretary-general and UNEP executive director Achim Steiner concluded that “biofuels are neither a panacea nor a pariah…but they represent both opportunities and challenges”. Steiner and the UNEP report call for a more “sophisticated debate” which covers a discussion of the most effective energy crops, the areas in which these should grow and also the manner in which politicians and governments “promote and manage the production and conversion of plant materials for energy purposes – some clearly are climate friendly while others are highly questionable.” [photo citation: Bill Belew of Greenpacks.org]

Discussion Question: What kinds of political mandates are in place in the United States regarding biofuel production? How is the UNEP report relevant to US biofuel production specifically?

Article Links: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=impacts-of-global-biofuel-boom
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2009/10/02/archive/2
Link to the full UNEP report (includes extensive detail on the biofuel studies covered): http://www.eenews.net/features/documents/2009/10/16/document_gw_01.pdf