World must wake up to the dangers of biofuels, head of Kew Gardens warns

[Barrett808]

World must wake up to the dangers of biofuels, head of Kew Gardens warns
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Published: 09 September 2006

The world should wake up to the dangers of the mass production of biofuels, which are increasingly seen as a major solution to global warming, according to Professor Sir Peter Crane, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Extensive production of biofuel crops, such as oil palms, could destroy remaining areas of rainforest and bring about a new cycle of worldwide intensive agriculture involving vast applications of artificial fertilisers and pesticides, and requiring enormous water resources, said Professor Crane, who as the head of Kew Gardens is the world's leading plant scientist.

"There are big opportunities with biofuels, but there are big problems too," he said. "It's not a free lunch."

Professor Crane, 52, is retiring from Kew after seven very successful years to take up a chair at the University of Chicago, and gave his biofuels warning as part of a valedictory interview with The Independent.

It comes at a critical moment. The production of road transport fuels made from crops, which do not add to the greenhouse gases causing global warming, is now starting to take off around the globe, and is likely to grow vastly. It will be one of the main agricultural developments of the 21st century.

(more)

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1431083.ece

[Botany]

1. thanx

:loveya: Kew




The Path to 9/11

[tridim]

2. Hemp, hemp, hemp

We're going to be forced to use it eventually, might as well start now. It grows anywhere, in one season.

[hootinholler]

14. HEMP! n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. We can't solve our energy problems

without including hemp.

[reprobate]

3. All the more reason to invest in algea based bio diesel.

[Barrett808]

5. Yes, very promising

Also promising for capturing CO2 from power plants.

[papau]

9. Very True - so why is media and this fellow ignoring the obvious? n/t

n/t

[gratuitous]

4. Now, really

Is there any reason to think that we'll go about production of biofuels in the most wasteful, expensive manner . . . ?

Uh, waitasecond.

Hmmm.

[nealhughes]

6. Indeed, George Monbiot has been warning about the possible palm oil

crisis looming if the current trend continues: deforestation, cessation of food production accompanying it...terrible news for the tropics, in short. Palm oil, on the other hand is a fast growing source with more "bang for the tree" than most other crops...

His blog and the Gurardian are on top of this, I'm surprised that Kew Gardens has just now read George...

[LostInAnomie]

7. I think support of biofuels should be one of the first thing on our agenda

It would gain up huge support from farmers, it would reduce our addiction to oil, and it would weaken the oil industry. As long as in the legislation would place strict environmental guidelines on its creation and use, I don't see a problem.

[greenman3610]

8. Algae biofuel demo in New Zealand

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10381404

NZ firm makes bio-diesel from sewage in world first

12.05.06
By Errol Kiong

A New Zealand company has successfully turned sewage into modern-day gold.

Marlborough-based Aquaflow Bionomic yesterday announced it had produced its first sample of bio-diesel fuel from algae in sewage ponds.

It is believed to be the world's first commercial production of bio-diesel from "wild" algae outside the laboratory - and the company expects to be producing at the rate of at least one million litres of the fuel each year from Blenheim by April.

[papau]

10. is there a way to invest in this? Or is this all venture capital? n/t

n/t

[mom cat]

12. More on algae fuels:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-01-10-algae-powerplants_x.htm

[mom cat]

11. Check out this French compressed air car:

http://www.gizmag.com/go/3523/

[mom cat]

13. Check out these comparisons of different alternative fuel oils:

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html

[pscot]

15. We are going to play this out to the bitter end

We're incapable of restraint, incapable of learning, incapable of adapting the measures that might pull us back from the brink, save us from the results of our own folly. Money is the lure and the devil is in the saddle, driving the human race toward oblivion. There's money to be made at Armaggedon. What do they imagine they will buy with it?

[Jcrowley]

17. The solution

is learning to live within limits. No "new technology" will cure the ills of the old technology.

From Albert Einstein:
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Biofuels are barely beyond a 1:1 EROEI.