Biofuels and the Need for Additional Carbon

Carbon Capture/Storage/Use, Feedstocks, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, Opinions, Policy, R & D Focus, Sustainability

June 3, 2010

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by Timothy D Searchinger (Environmental Research Letters) Use of biofuels does not reduce emissions from energy combustion but may offset emissions by increasing plant growth or by reducing plant residue or other non-energy emissions. To do so, biofuel production must generate and use `additional carbon’, which means carbon that plants would not otherwise absorb or that would be emitted to the atmosphere anyway. When biofuels cause no direct land use change, they use crops that would grow regardless of biofuels so they do not directly absorb additional carbon. All potential greenhouse gas reductions from such biofuels, as well as many potential emission increases, result from indirect effects, including reduced crop consumption, price-induced yield gains and land conversion. READ MORE RFA Response

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