Avery: Biofuels, Food, or Wildlife? The Massive Land Costs of U.S. Ethanol

[KC]

Deforestation may contribute to larger amounts of carbon entering the atmosphere if mandates for biofuels continue.


Even without ethanol, the world is facing a clash between food and forests. Food and feed demands on
farmlands will more than double by 2050. Unfortunately, the American public does not yet understand the
massive land requirements of U.S. corn ethanol nor the unique conditions that have allowed sugar cane ethanol
to make a modest energy contribution in Brazil.

The United States might well have to clear an additional 50 million acres of forest—or more—to produce
economically significant amounts of liquid transport fuels. Despite the legend of past U.S farm surpluses, the
only large reservoir of underused cropland in America is about 30 million acres of land—too dry for corn—
enrolled in the Conservation Reserve. Ethanol mandates may force the local loss of many wildlife species, and
perhaps trigger some species extinctions. Soil erosion will increase radically as large quantities of low-quality
land are put into fuel crops on steep slopes and in drought-prone regions.

The market is already responding to the high price of oil, as investors flock to alternative fuels, including
investments in cellulosic ethanol research and development. Those developments are healthy, if markets are
allowed to discover the winners and losers in future alternative energy sources without government intervention
through subsidies and fuel mandates, and with a clear assessment of the trade-offs that may be involved.

@Biofuels, Food, or Wildlife? The Massive Land Costs of U.S. Ethanol (http://cei.org/pdf/5532.pdf)

[Peter1469]

Mesquite trees could be grown on semi-arid land and actually help the eco-system. It makes very good ethanol feed stock with very little effort.

[Chloe]

Deforestation may contribute to larger amounts of carbon entering the atmosphere if mandates for biofuels continue.


@Biofuels, Food, or Wildlife? The Massive Land Costs of U.S. Ethanol (http://cei.org/pdf/5532.pdf)

Everybody goes vegetarian which will reduce the amount of land needed for cattle, let trees grow instead of cutting them down, and use clean renewable energy. Problem solved :grin:

[Peter1469]

Everybody goes vegetarian which will reduce the amount of land needed for cattle, let trees grow instead of cutting them down, and use clean renewable energy. Problem solved :grin:

No deal. I like steak. Rare please.

[Chloe]

No deal. I like steak. Rare please.

I guess you just hate the Earth then :cry:

[Peter1469]

I guess you just hate the Earth then :cry:

Not me.

Sustainable cow farming is good for the earth. http://blog.seattlepi.com/greenacreradio/2010/09/27/sustainable-cattle-farming-thats-good-for-cows-people-and-the-environment/

Cows allowed to range over larger areas help the land.

[Chloe]

Not me.

Sustainable cow farming is good for the earth. http://blog.seattlepi.com/greenacreradio/2010/09/27/sustainable-cattle-farming-thats-good-for-cows-people-and-the-environment/

Cows allowed to range over larger areas help the land.

I was just joking with you

[Peter1469]

I was just joking with you

Good. Go cook me a steak.


Rare, please. :kiss:

[Chloe]

Good. Go cook me a steak.


Rare, please. :kiss:

Such a lack of respect :cry:

[Peter1469]

Such a lack of respect :cry:


Is it done yet? A couple of minutes on each side is all it needs. :grin:

[Chloe]

Is it done yet? A couple of minutes on each side is all it needs. :grin:

Yep almost done. Don't worry if it's not the color of your typical steak. I assure you it's not tofu......:cool2:

[Peter1469]

Yep almost done. Don't worry if it's not the color of your typical steak. I assure you it's not tofu......:cool2:

Pizza instead?

[Chloe]

Pizza instead?

Sure, let me find a lot of great veggies for it, you won't even notice there isn't any meat on it :wink:

[Captain Obvious]

Yep almost done. Don't worry if it's not the color of your typical steak. I assure you it's not tofu......:cool2:

Just eat Taco Bell. No meat there, just sawdust and ground up toenails.

[Chloe]

Just eat Taco Bell. No meat there, just sawdust and ground up toenails.

lol thanks

[Peter1469]

I may get some lamb chops to cook this weekend....

[waltky]

We got oceans to grow algae for biofuel...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/oldicons/icon17.gif
Gov’t Pays $8.8M ‘To Spur Biofuel Production’
June 1, 2016 | The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it is paying $8,833,211 of taxpayer funds to boost the production of biofuels and sustain jobs at renewable energy facilities.


"Advanced biofuels expand America's energy options and increase our sources of homegrown, renewable energy," Secretary Tom Vilsack says in a USDA press release. "These payments not only help to spur biofuel production, but also protect the environment and help create jobs by building a renewable energy economy in rural areas."

The USDA claims that under the Obama administration $332 million has been spent for renewable energy research and cost/benefit estimates of renewable energy production.

“Investments in renewable energy and the biobased economy are a leading part of USDA's commitment to mitigating climate change and promoting a clean-energy economy,” the press release says.

Biofuels operations in 39 states are receiving payments ranging from a low of $532 to the Liberation Capital Renewable Energy Fund of North Carolina, to a high of $3,864,179 to Rbf Port Neches, LLC of Texas.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/eric-scheiner/govt-pays-88m-spur-biofuel-production

[waltky]

Biofuel from 'bionic leaf', how plastic pollution affects fish...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
Scientists: Clean Fuel From 'Bionic Leaf' Could Ease Pressure on Farmland
June 02, 2016 — A new clean technology to turn sunlight into liquid fuel could drastically shrink the need for large plantations to grow crops for biofuels, while combating climate change, Harvard University researchers said on Thursday. That could help protect food supplies and local people's land rights, they suggested.


Dubbed "bionic leaf 2.0," the technology uses solar panels to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, the scientists said in a study published in the journal Science. Once separated, hydrogen is moved into a chamber where it is consumed by bacteria, and with help from a special metal catalyst and carbon dioxide, the process generates liquid fuel. The method is an artificial version of the photosynthesis process plants use to make energy from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, scientists said. If it becomes economically viable, the technology could replace oil wells or plantations where food crops are grown for fuel, the study's lead author said. "This [new energy source] is not competing with food for agricultural land," Harvard University Professor of Energy Daniel Nocera told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Crops for fuel, rather than food

Crops such as corn and sugar cane have been increasingly cultivated to produce biofuels. About 4 percent of the world's farmland is used to grow crops for fuel rather than food, according to a University of Virginia study published in March. Tens of thousands of small-scale farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America have been displaced by plantations growing crops to make biofuels, according to GRAIN, a Barcelona-based land rights group. The new technology could help protect their land rights while also reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, Nocera said. "The [land] footprint these solar panels need is about one-tenth the size of what you would need for sugar cane," he said.


http://gdb.voanews.com/9EA9BC8F-69B9-4E79-B407-C69F64DDFE93_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy11_cw0.jpg
A crop in Boone County, Iowa. A new clean technology to turn sunlight into liquid fuel could drastically shrink the need for large plantations to grow crops for biofuels, while combating climate change, Harvard University researchers said on Thursday.

If governments put a price on carbon-dioxide emissions, the "bionic leaf" would appeal to investors as a cost-effective alternative energy source, the professor added. Today, however, it remains cheaper to grow biofuel crops or extract fossil fuels than to produce renewable energy, Nocera said. A carbon tax boosting U.S. gas prices to European levels -- although not yet on the cards -- would likely be enough to spur investment in the new technology, he said. "Bionic leaf 2.0" converts solar energy into liquid fuel with 10 percent efficiency, far higher than the 1 percent efficiency seen in the fastest-growing plants that use a similar process, Nocera added.

http://www.voanews.com/content/bionic-leaf-clean-fuel-farmland/3359989.html

See also:

Study Reveals Harm to Fish From Tiny Bit of Plastic Pollution
June 02, 2016 | WASHINGTON — Scientists have demonstrated for the first time the devastating physiological and behavioral effects on fish exposed to the tiny bits of plastic pollution clogging the world's oceans.


Lab experiments with European perch larvae showed exposure to microplastic particles at levels present in seas inhibited hatching of fertilized eggs, stunted larval growth, reduced activity levels, and made them more susceptible to predators, increasing mortality rates, researchers said on Thursday. "For me, the key finding and biggest surprise in this study was the fact that larvae preferentially ate microplastic particles and literally stuffed themselves with the microbeads," ignoring their natural food source of zooplankton, said marine biologist Oona Lönnstedt of Uppsala University in Sweden. There is increasing concern among scientists about the effect of pervasive plastic pollution on marine ecosystems. This study was the first to look at direct effects of microplastic particles on fish development, Lönnstedt said.


http://gdb.voanews.com/EB6A94CB-F262-4153-8F7E-6EE679C19A31_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy5_cw0.jpg
Adult perch in the Baltic Sea

Microplastic particles, bits of plastic measuring no more than two-tenths of an inch (5 mm), come from large plastic trash that has fragmented into smaller pieces or from manufactured plastics of microscopic size such as microbeads in products like facial soap, body wash and toothpaste. The European perch, known for its greenish color with black stripes and orange-to-red fins, is an important commercial fish species for coastal and lake fisheries and is also popular for recreational fishing, said Peter Eklöv, an Uppsala professor of limnology, the study of inland waters.

Perch larvae exposed to microplastic particles lost their ability to use typical perch anti-predator behavior such as freezing in place, Eklöv said. "Microplastics actually seem to interfere with an animal's natural behaviors, such as feeding choices, activity rates and predator-avoidance strategies," Lönnstedt said. "This is a serious cause for concern, in particular since microplastic particles often accumulate in shallow coastal areas where many developmental stages of aquatic organisms, not just fish, can be found."


http://gdb.voanews.com/5D1E1EB5-AE50-47D9-920E-B91B1C6CE1FA_w640_s.jpg
Larval perch that has ingested microplastic particles

While this study involved perch, such plastic pollution is likely harmful to many fish species. The researchers said since this study, they have conducted similar experiments with other fish, both tropical (coral reef damselfish) and temperate (pike and flounder), and all showed responses to microplastic particles very similar to the perch. "If microplastics are indeed affecting organisms both chemically and physically, then this really calls for a ban on microplastic beads in body-care products and cosmetics around the world," Lönnstedt said. The research was published in the journal Science.

http://www.voanews.com/content/study-reveals-harm-to-fish-from-tiny-bit-of-plastic-pollution/3359987.html

[Peter1469]

Plastics in the environment hurt humans as well. Much of its components are toxic.

[Mac-7]

Biofuel from 'bionic leaf', how plastic pollution affects fish...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
Scientists: Clean Fuel From 'Bionic Leaf' Could Ease Pressure on Farmland
June 02, 2016 — A new clean technology to turn sunlight into liquid fuel could drastically shrink the need for large plantations to grow crops for biofuels, while combating climate change, Harvard University researchers said on Thursday. That could help protect food supplies and local people's land rights, they suggested.


See also:

Study Reveals Harm to Fish From Tiny Bit of Plastic Pollution
June 02, 2016 | WASHINGTON — Scientists have demonstrated for the first time the devastating physiological and behavioral effects on fish exposed to the tiny bits of plastic pollution clogging the world's oceans.

A carbon tax to raise gasoline prices to the same level as the Euros would hopefully result in exile for every politician who voted for it.

and I would happily show them the door myself.