Report - U.S. Lacks Standards to Keep Biofuel Industry From Harming The Environment

A report from the Office of Biobased Technology from the University of Michigan says that the United States lacks the standards to ensure that producing biofuels from cellulose won’t cause environmental harm.

As governments the world over move to make biofuel mandates, concessions and tax breaks for corn farmers and biofuel industry leaders, a group of scientists is calling for sustainable practices in an industry that that is being driven as an alternative to fossil fuel independence.

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Phil Robertson, Michigan State University professor of Crop and Soil Sciences and lead author of the paper “Sustainable Biofuels Redux” published in the Oct. 3 issue of the journal Science summed it up:

“Environmental standards are needed now, before the industry moves out of its research and development phase. With production standards and incentive programs, cellulosic biofuel cropping systems could provide significant environmental benefits. With production standards and incentive programs, cellulosic biofuel cropping systems could provide significant environmental benefits.”

“Science has shown that almost all intensive grain-based cropping systems, as currently managed, cause environmental harm. We can soften the environmental impacts by using strategies such as no-till farming to minimize erosion and planting cover crops to sequester carbon and reduce nitrogen and phosphorus run-off.  But few farmers use all of the best available practices because there are limited incentives –and many disincentives – for them to do so.”

“As the technology to make biofuels from cellulose is refined and commercialized, we believe it’s crucial that the industry and legislators adopt policies that reward environmentally sustainable production practices for cellulosic biofuels.”

There are several organizations that have started to tackle this recently, including the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance, which we’ve covered at Gas 2.0 before. Hopefully, analysis like MSU’s will give the organizations the push they need to become successful.

Photo: Ken McCown under a Creative Commons License

Source: Office of Bio-Based Technologies, Michigan State University

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