Biofuels cause pollution, not as green as thought - study

Started by walkstall, January 07, 2013, 02:48:10 PM

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walkstall

Say it not so.   :lol:

snip~
OSLO — Green schemes to fight climate change by producing more bio-fuels could actually worsen a little-known type of air pollution and cause almost 1,400 premature deaths a year in Europe by 2020, a study showed on Sunday.

The report said trees grown to produce wood fuel - seen as a cleaner alternative to oil and coal - released a chemical into the air that, when mixed with other pollutants, could also reduce farmers' crop yields.

"Growing biofuels is thought to be a good thing because it reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said Nick Hewitt, who worked on the study with colleagues from England's Lancaster University.

"What we're saying is 'yes, that's great, but biofuels could also have a detrimental effect on air quality'," he added.

The report, in the journal Nature Climate Change, looked into the impact of a European Union scheme to slow climate change by producing more biofuels.

Hewitt told Reuters there would be a similar impact wherever biofuels were produced in large quantities in areas suffering air pollution, including the United States and China.

Poplar, willow or eucalyptus trees, all used as fast-growing sources of renewable wood fuel, emit high levels of the chemical isoprene as they grow, the study said. Isoprene forms toxic ozone when mixed with other air pollutants in sunlight.

"Large-scale production of biofuels in Europe would have small but significant effects on human mortality and crop yields," said Hewitt.

"As far as we know, no one has looked at the air quality of growing biofuel crops before," he added.

The report estimated that ozone from wood-based energy to meet the European Union's 2020 goal would cause nearly 1,400 premature deaths a year, costing society $7.1 billion.

The European plan would also would reduce the annual value of wheat and maize production by $1.5 billion since ozone impairs crop growth, the study added.



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http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20130107/SCIENCE-US-CLIMATE-BIOFUELS/
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

BILLY Defiant

Biofuels really Fk up an engine so mechanics tell me. It also drives up the price of food.

Billy
Evil operates best when it is disguised for what it truly is.

mdgiles

Quote from: BILLY Defiant on January 07, 2013, 06:11:19 PM
Biofuels really Fk up an engine so mechanics tell me. It also drives up the price of food.

Billy
The EnviroNuts don't care about the practical effect of their policies. They just want to feel good about themselves. Starving 3rd World peasants don't even enter into their thought processes.
"LIBERALS: their willful ignorance is rivaled only by their catastrophic stupidity"!

raptor5618

Biofuels are just one more scam that is being funded by the govt.  I think the reason is immaterial as it is just one way to funnel money to people who will support their reelection.  I was right in the middle of the environmental cleanup industry when Superfund was started.  Some good was done but it mostly was a way to spend lots of cash really fast with virtually no oversight and the oversight that existed was promoted and rewarded based upon how much they spend on cleanups under their supervision. 

It is clear that clean energy is having the same cash party that all the contractors and consultants had especially in the early years of Superfund.  I guess the people are a bit more piggish now because they so many seem to just get the money and blow it in a year or two.  Back then the companies kept coming back for more.   

What is more damaging to our environment than growing corn.  Toss in that it is taking food off the table for consumption and only an idiot does not see that mandating ethanol is only a way to funnel money to buddies of those in power and not actually a good think in any shape manner or form. 
"An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity."