New study suggests EU biofuels are as carbon intensive as petrol

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2011/november/new-study-suggests-eu-biofuels-are-as-carbon-intensive-as-petrol

New study suggests EU biofuels are as carbon intensive as petrol

Posted by pt91 at Nov 04, 2011 12:40 PM | Permalink

University of Leicester research into greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations provides robust measures now being used to inform international policies on greenhouse gas emissions

Issued by University of Leicester Press Office on 4 November 2011

A new study on greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations has calculated a more than 50% increase in levels of CO2 emissions than previously thought – and warned that the demand for ‘green’ biofuels could be costing the earth.

The study from the University of Leicester was conducted for the International Council on Clean Transportation, an international think tank that wished to assess the greenhouse gas emissions associated with biodiesel production. Biodiesel mandates can increase palm oil demand directly (the European Biodiesel Board recently reported big increases in biodiesel imported from Indonesia) and also indirectly, because palm oil is the world’s most important source of vegetable oil and will replace oil from rapeseed or soy in food if they are instead used to make biodiesel.

…

The Leicester team established that the scale of greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations on peat is significantly higher than previously assumed. They concluded that a value of 86 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per hectare per year (annualised over 50 years) is the most robust currently available estimate; this compares with previous estimates of around 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per hectare per year. CO2 emissions increase further if you are interested specifically in the short term greenhouse gas implications of palm oil production – for instance under the EU Renewable Energy Directive which assesses emissions over 20 years, the corresponding emissions rate would be 106 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per hectare per year.

…

[NYC_SKP]

1. CO2 from biofuels is an entirely different beast from CO2 from fossil fuels.

Fossil based carbon releases are coming from firmly sequestered deposits deep in the earth, in the lithosphere.

In contrast, the carbon in biofuels is already a part of the terrestrial/atomospheric/oceanic/hydrologic carbon cycle.

This distinction is fundamental in evaluating different solutions to our energy needs.

:patriot:

[NickB79]

2. This study directly contradicts your statement

If you read it, you'll see that they are looking at biofuel derived primarily from palm oil plantations grown on cleared peat fields. The act of clearing and plowing the peat was found to be the source for most of the CO2 released into the atmosphere, because when plowed up and exposed to the air, deep peat reserves offgas significant amounts of carbon as they rapidly decompose.

Undisturbed peat is also a firmly sequestered carbon deposit; it can be viewed in the same way as a coal deposit or oil field. So long as anaerobic conditions are maintained, peat bogs sequester and hold large amounts of carbon.

Now, what you said may hold true for biofuels derived from other sources (ethanol, soybean-based biodiesel, etc), but apparently not for palm oil.

[kestrel91316]

3. Headline SHOULD read: Biofuels from wasteful sources like palm oil plantations

are as carbon intensive as petrol.

Wonder why it doesn't.