For several years, Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his media sycophants have been telling the nation that a movement away from fossil fuels to biofuels is necessary to save the planet from the Left's bogeyman known as global warming.
A new study by the Marine Biological Laboratory raises series questions about this premise.
According to MBL's Thursday press release, "Carbon emissions caused by the displacement of food crops and pastures may be twice as much as those from lands devoted to biofuels production."
Beyond this, "increased fertilizer use for biofuels production will cause nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) to become more important than carbon losses, in terms of warming potential, by the end of the century" (h/t Glenn Reynolds):
"Our analysis, which we think is the most comprehensive to date, shows that direct and indirect land-use changes associated with an aggressive global biofuels program have the potential to release large quantities of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere," says [MBL senior scientist Jerry] Melillo. [...]
"Large greenhouse gas emissions from these indirect land-use changes are unintended consequences of a global biofuels program; consequences that add to the climate-change problem rather than helping to solve it," says Melillo "As our analysis shows, these unintended consequences are largest when the clearing of forests is involved."
In their model, Melillo and his colleagues also simulated N2O emissions from the additional fertilizer that will be required to grow biofuel crops in the future. They found that over the century, N2O emissions will surpass CO2 in terms of warming potential. By 2100, Melillo and his team estimate that in both study scenarios, biofuels production will account for more than half of the total N2O emissions from fertilizer. "Best practices for the use of nitrogen fertilizer, such as synchronizing fertilizer application with plant demand, can reduce N2O emissions associated with biofuels production," the scientists say.
Nice. So rather than acting as the well-touted global warming panacea, biofuel production is anything but.
Given pending cap and trade legislation currently before Congress, one would think this study would be of great importance.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
→ No surprise
October 24, 2009 - 16:16 ET by Cool ArrowJust as biofuels are a net negative to the energy supply, so are the emissions a net detriment to any effore to curb emissions.
But the liberals are content with starving all those poor people overseas your mom kept telling you about.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
I can't decide...
October 24, 2009 - 16:20 ET by heldmywIs this heresy or raaaaacism?
Racism. Remember anything
October 24, 2009 - 19:11 ET by GregERacism. Remember anything that's opposite the view that Obama would have, is racism. So when anyone mentions anything of those views, they're not starting from a clean slate to begin the discussion. No, the starting point is racism, and the discussion continues from there.
Greg... Right you
October 24, 2009 - 19:19 ET by bigtimerGreg...
Right you are...and the majority of the the people out here in the real world are bored and tired with it all.
Talking heads and print are the only leftist arm of his administration that keep harping on it...and they wonder why we don't read their papers/mags or watch their stations anymore.
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart
It is amazing how liberals
October 24, 2009 - 16:21 ET by BO STINKScontinually stumble around in the dark and end up causing the exact thing they wish to avoid!
"How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!" Sam Adams
All these "FEEL GOOD" projects always use more energy.
October 24, 2009 - 16:23 ET by upcountrywaterRecycling, carbon sequestering, more filters on all kinds of products.
State controlled health care is Tort Reform. Update! music video.
There ya go.
October 25, 2009 - 14:06 ET by JWFProducts that come into my house have had very little in the way of humans touching them. From the raw materials to the finished product, the process involved mostly automated machinery.
Recycling adds humans to the process. From drivers driving trucks full of empty containers, to humans separating the various products. It takes less energy and less money to manufacture nearly everything than it does to recycle.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
JWF, Hawaii has a 5 cent fee on cans and bottles
October 25, 2009 - 15:06 ET by upcountrywaterYou would not believe how much time some people take to get that nickel back, hot water cleaning, driving to the recycling site, some locations even have state installed and maintained vending machines, that give out refunds.
Heres the deal with glass, after the convoluted wasted energy steps, 95 % OF IT ENDS UP AT THE DUMP!
We have the wonderful program of adding the glass to asphalt.
Talk to a paving contractor about how well glass sticks, to the mix.
BTW, Virgin Plastic costs 10% less than recycled plastic.
State controlled health care is Tort Reform. Update! music video.
Stationed in Maine.
October 25, 2009 - 15:19 ET by JWFMy wife worked cleaning in the Transit barracks. Transiting people don't stick around long enough to get the nickel back. So she would bring bags home every day. Yes. It was a pain to clean the cans and bottles so they don't stink prior to bringing them in. But I would spend time on a saturday morning and do it. All so we could get $30 for a truckload (Ranger).
Retired in Illinois. No refunds here. Gladly toss everything in the trash. Don't live in the town proper. So we have to pay a company to haul it all away. What does that have to do with the topic at hand? I don't know, I can't stop typing.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
More CO2 not less....
October 25, 2009 - 15:39 ET by upcountrywaterBad : Forgetting unplug your phone charger. ( 0.2 A)...
Goodness N' Green: 30 gallons of hot water down the drain, to have clean bottles end up in a land fill. ( 30.0 A)
"Large greenhouse gas emissions from these indirect land-use changes
are unintended consequences of a global biofuels program; consequences
that add to the climate-change problem rather than helping to solve
it," says Melillo
We are on track here, more energy use more CO2...I like more CO2 plants grow better.
State controlled health care is Tort Reform. Update! music video.
Shhhhhh.
October 25, 2009 - 15:43 ET by JWFI lived in government housing. I did not pay for the hot water to clean the recycling cans & bottles. Uncle Sam did.
recycling sucks
October 25, 2009 - 15:23 ET by jon_torlinYou know, until they make it TRULY energy efficient a method of recycling different things, I'm going to be anti-environmentalist and say I don't recycle ANYTHING at home, and I barely do at work.(recycling paper, got a guy that comes by from Facilities to pick up paper for recycling, woo hoo and I use the trash and recycling bin for paper almost equally, no discrimination there)
I've had neighbors and co-workers(not all of them) get on my case about recycling and I just ignore them. One time I said in response "do you hate the planet that much that you would harm it by recycling all this trash?" (massive energy to do so = less quality if any at all) They were speechless, didn't know how to respond.
On Earth Day, I have a tradition of getting a char-broiled burger from a local burger place that has a flame grill. I drive around town a lot in my V8 engine truck that day too. And so on.
In Star Trek The Next Generation, they had a device called a replicator that made things out of component atoms and molecules, tools, items of various kinds and even food. Once you got what you needed from whatever you got from the device, you put the remainder back into the replicator and it dissolves it back to its component atoms and molecules and is stored for other things later. Granted, that's science fiction, but if something like that were made, then you wouldn't have to worry about waste and trash and etc.
Anyone see that bio-deisel fueled bus that had "used cooking oil" for fuel on Fox News last week? What a joke!
-Jon
In the meantime, could
October 25, 2009 - 15:30 ET by Jack BauerIn the meantime, could someone just drop Michael Moore into some sort of compacter?
big enough?
October 25, 2009 - 15:33 ET by jon_torlinWould one of those used in a junkyard for cars do the job?
That's the only kind big enough I can think of......
-Jon
jon... You have me
October 25, 2009 - 15:42 ET by bigtimerjon...
You have me chucking here...I was wondering how to answer Jack's post, without getting gross about Moore not fitting into a regular compacter...
Salvage yards do fit him well.
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart
Then ODD JOB, can drive him to the recycling center in his Ford
October 25, 2009 - 15:45 ET by upcountrywaterRanchero
State controlled health care is Tort Reform. Update! music video.
Climate change wingnuts
October 24, 2009 - 16:23 ET by another_old_veteranRegardless of any scientific facts presented the climate change wing nuts will claim that the information is flawed or insignificant.
Hopefully the Al Bore fraud will be seen for what it is and the world economy will not be destroyed by bad science and outright lies.
The Democratic party makes the Keystone Cops look like a precision drill team and 'their' Congress wins the Rube Goldberg award.
The Prophet is an idiot
October 24, 2009 - 16:54 ET by Jeff in Miami BeachDennis Miller said it best, Beware of Prophets seeking profit.
Drill Here, Drill NOW! Freedom comes from producing our own fuel not importing it from people who hate us.
If you think medical care is expensive now wait until it is free!
Diverting corn from food production to
October 24, 2009 - 17:13 ET by CO2MakerSUV fuel, ecological balance, polar bear salvation, and moral transcendence is good. It drives up prices for corn used as food--an annoyance when price increases for the corn syrup causes a spike in Pepsi prices but really indefensible when it reduces the amount of food sent abroad to places with, um, STARVATION.
As the general said, "In order to save the planet, we had to destroy the people."
Arcane movie allusion: Corn eaten by cows yields methane production, or as the French soldier taunted King Arthur in Monty Python's Holy Grail, "I fart in your general direction!" Can you hear the cows now, Al Gore?
Aww gee, the cat's out of the bag.
October 24, 2009 - 17:15 ET by 10ksnookerAnyone with any small sense of reality knew this long ago ... How could it possibly be otherwise. You got to grow the food, turn it into fuel, deliver it, before you can burn it.
CARB announced their finding some months ago, put the figure at 2x for ethanol, and Gov Schwarzenegger had it taken off their website -- Replaced with only "more" CO2 than gasoline.
Nutty liberals will be the ruin of us ..
Ah,there's an upside to Global Warming
October 24, 2009 - 18:06 ET by CO2MakerA warmer Canada, which is a better place to visit and vacation in:
Breitbart.tv » ‘Canadian Tourism Federation’ Celebrates Global Warming in Spoof Video
Perfect.
October 25, 2009 - 14:32 ET by JWFNo one, No one at all has come out and said what the ideal termperature for the planet should be. Now why is that? Because the countries ringing the Arctic circle would most definitely want a higher temperature. While those countries in the tropics would want a lower temperature.
So let's keep pushing the Climate Change/Global Warming/ ManBearPig nonsense, huh?
Biggest proponents of the Global Warming nonsense - Odd. Countries that lie in the temperate zone. Shock of shockers!
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
All you ever need to know
October 24, 2009 - 18:13 ET by richb313All you ever need to know is this, by using ethonal we are using food for fuel. I am not against using bio fuels but only use the waste products, the corn stalks etc or other bio mass that can be converted. Today we do not have an economical way to do this but the technology is being developed. It uses bacteria or ensymes to break down cellulous so that the sugars can be extracted and then converted to ethanol. Any effort to grow crops especially for ethanol is doomed to be a net negative. Either land for food is used or land has to be cleared that was either forrested or grass lands. Then thier is the fertilizer problem. I knew this when the idea was first proposed.
Is the objective to lower carbon emmisions or is it to lower the carbon in the atmosphere? These objectives are not always in sync. Carbon is removed from the atmosphere mainly by the oceans and then by land based vegitation. Any time any vegitation is removed or processed carbon is released it is unavoidable. Therefore any activity that harvests more vegitation will release more carbon through one form or another.
I do not buy into the whole AWG Man Made Global Warming hypothesis anyway but the proposed remedies only are so idiotic as they have outcomes that are opposite of the stated objectives.
Gonna beg to differ just a little bit sir.
October 25, 2009 - 14:53 ET by JWFWe grow plants for food. And with most of them, the food is the seeds. A farmer plants and harvests just once a year. The seeds being just a small part of the plant. But to gather and store those seeds and have them available for processing plants year round, we have built a massive infrastructure in the form of grain silos and elevators. Numbering in my estimate into the hundreds of thousands across the United States.
And that is just for the seeds. If we should want to start to process the rest of the plant, we will need to build an entirely new infrastructure to process and store the rest of the plant.
Don't forget. Grain silos and elevators are hazardous. There are dust explosions every year. And we have to keep the temperatures down in these storage facilities. Bacteria love the same foods we do and left alone, bacteria will grow unchecked and will increase the temperature until the grain will spontaneously combust.
We have a perfectly functioning system taking fuel out of the ground. It is cheaper, uses less energy, and is good for those seeds we love to eat. We pump CO2 into the air, the seed making plants suck it up.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
I am going to correct myself.
October 25, 2009 - 15:52 ET by JWFJWF: built a massive infrastructure in the form of grain silos and elevators. Numbering in my estimate into the hundreds of thousands across the United States.
I think I may be off by a scale of 10. Maybe millions of grain silos and elevators.
I can't find a total U.S number. But I found this - Over 14,200 grain storage silos are being distributed to farmers in seven provinces ofAfghanistan, thanks to an FAO project (OSRO-AFG-408-GER) funded by the Government of Germany.
→ JWF
October 25, 2009 - 15:55 ET by Cool ArrowAre you sure you're not the original swindler, Billy Sol Estes?
I stand in awe.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
I know Cool is being all teh funny.
October 25, 2009 - 16:17 ET by JWFForgive me. I don't get it. Please explain teh funny. Not trying to be mr. smartypants. I is just confused.
→ JWF
October 25, 2009 - 16:22 ET by Cool ArrowBack in the '60s there was a guy from around these parts who made lots of dough selling commodities that didn't even exist. Turns out, the silos didn't exist either.
I always wondered how he did it. Of course, I wonder how Bernie Madoff did it too.
No insult meant. I was just making a connection to your post and correction.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
Ah. My inflation of the numbers.
October 25, 2009 - 16:30 ET by JWFK. I get it now. Thanks. I shall now redouble my efforts to get some good hard numbers so I shall not be the object of Mr. Arrow's funniness and riduculings.
You had me scared there. I was reading the link. Somebody killed that Marshall guy. They claimed he shot himself 5 times with his own bolt action rifle and then tryed to use the CO from his truck's tailpipe on a country road to asphixiate himself when the 5 shots failed to do the job. All this with a pretty nasty bruise on his noggin.
→ I follow, JWF
October 25, 2009 - 16:40 ET by Cool ArrowI assure you, I wasn't trying to ridicule.
Now I just feel old and obsolete that Billy Sol Estes wasn't as big a deal in other parts of the country as it was here in Texas.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
I have some numbers.
October 25, 2009 - 17:13 ET by JWFThat is off farm boys and girls. Off farm. A great deal of farms have their own storage on farm. That is just for the seeds.
Ok. An upright silo 20' in diameter filled to a depth of 40' will hold 10,000 bushels. Storing 20 billion bushels requires 2 MILLION SILOS BOYS AND GIRLS!
Can you imagine if we were to try to process the entire plant?
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
Nonsense
October 24, 2009 - 18:18 ET by slickwillie2001Existing Biofuel technologies are crap. Whether they are negative or only slightly positive in energy gain is not the point when there is oil and gas in the ground that's there for the taking.
But this so-called study is just as crappy. If we must add all CO2 (and now N2O?) sources into the discussion of which kind of energy is the most efficient, including denied CO2 reductions from an alternate use, then our entire industrial economy goes back to the drawing board and who knows what Rube Goldberg process the enviro-socialists will stick us with.
We can do away with biofuel nonsense where it doesn't make sense without signing onto nutball 'global warming' theories.
Go figure. Who's
October 24, 2009 - 19:06 ET by GregEGo figure. Who's surprised?
not as efficient
October 24, 2009 - 21:14 ET by jon_torlinBio-fuels are far more in-efficient than regular fuel. Ethanol certainly gets that, that was proven. Takes too much energy to produce, and you don't get enough benefits from it.
Folks, if common sense was applied here, this would have stopped a long time ago. That means common sense got done thrown out da winder.(window for those of you phonetically challenged) \
As Forrest Gump said, stupid is as stupid does.
-Jon
Food as fuel
October 24, 2009 - 23:40 ET by merlin61God put food on earth to eat. God put animals on earth to eat. God put fuel in the ground for us to use for other purposes, such as fuel. The part about the food and animals is in the Bible. Hey Al Gore have you read it lately? We don't need food for fuel when there are starving people in this world.
Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his media sycophants . . .
October 25, 2009 - 15:06 ET by DoktorFrankenNobel Laureate Al Gore and his media sycophants:
Facts!! Ah-h-h-h-h-hhhhh!!!! Help!! Get away!! Get away!!
End quote.
JMHO, you understand.
If Saul Alinsky owned a news channel it would be MSNBC. ---- Me