Biofuels
Biofuels are fuels produced from plant material such as soybean or corn oils rather than fossil fuel sources. Animal fats can also be used. The oils from are combined with alcohol and catalysed to form ethyl or methyl esters. They are sold either neat, as 100% biodiesel, or blended with conventional diesel oil. Other forms of biofuels are biologically produced alcohols and biogases. [1]
Increases in the price of fossil fuels, combined with fears of a shortage in the future, have spurred research into biofuels as a clean and renewable energy source. The US, European and other governments have put measures in place encouraging the production of biofuels [1].
However, the enthusiasm for biofuels has led to deforestation as natural forests in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been cleared to plant oil palms, considered to be one of the best and cheapest sources of biodiesel. Large areas of the Amazon have been burned to plant more sugar and soybeans. This has led to habitat destruction for animals, and the monoculture of plantations replacing the variety of species in native forests. Almost 50,000 acres of forest a day are lost. Because that number includes the planting of plantation forests, it masks the true loss of tropical forests, which is almost 100,000 acres a day, or more than twice the size of Washington DC. Deforestation is the largest cause of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. [2]
In the US, the use of corn to produce ethanol encourages monoculture farming, which uses more fossil fuels than the value of the energy produced and leaves soils eroded and water polluted. There is about a 13% reduction of carbon dioxide though. [3]
There is a concern that the production of biofuels will have an adverse impact on food prices, which will particularly affect poor people, who spend a larger percentage of their income on food than wealthy people. [4]