Comments on: Report: Global Biofuels Market Could Double To $185.3 Billion By 2021

By: SJ

SJ — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:15:00 +0000

True, switchgrass is a good example, it’s a pity much green investment is still focussing on woods, palm oil, sunflower oil and sugar plants. Repercussions are largely not considered. Investment into research is so important.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:21:00 +0000

We’re in the early days of a massive transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Coal is a dead man walking in the US and Europe. China is being very aggressive about installing renewables, they see the need to cut fossil fuel use more than many other governments.

Biofuels will be, IMO, a niche energy provider. We’re a long way from developing batteries that can power an airliner or ocean-going ship. Biofuels can do that while we use renewable energy for most of our ground transportation.

To the extent we can make biofuels from ag and urban waste and from crops grown on lands not suitable for food we won’t damage our food supplies.

Switchgrass, for example, grows nicely on crummy land which is unsuitable for food crops. Some oil seed crops can be grown between wheat crops when the fields would otherwise sit idle. In both cases the biofuel crops improve the soil, either by fixing nutrients and/or reducing erosion

By: SJ

SJ — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:11:00 +0000

Where do you think the electricity comes from? Predominantly coal, nuclear and gas. Coal emits too much greenhouse gas, nuclear is still taboo, gas comes from oil… The trouble with bio fuel is that much of it eats into our food resources, which will become scarcer than oil in the next 9 years if we carry on with this business as usual attitude to climate change.

By: AMJ Schroter

AMJ Schroter — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:50:00 +0000

I really do not see much potential for bio fuels in an internal combustion engine on land in the long term future. Because it will be replaced by the much more efficient and less resource hungry electric motor.