Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt

TR Number
Date
2008
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sciencexpress
Abstract

Increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food crop-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a "biofuel carbon debt" by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions that these biofuels would provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on degraded and abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and can offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages.

Description
Metadata only record
Keywords
Carbon sequestration, Renewable energy, Climate control, Biomass energy, Non-renewable resources, Greenhouse gases (GHGs), Biofuels, Carbon debt, Governance
Citation
Science 319(5867): 1235-1238