Food-based biofuels can spur climate change: study - Reuters [View All]

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Food-based biofuels can spur climate change: study
Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:15pm EST

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alternative fuels made from
corn, soybeans, sugarcane and palm trees can in some
cases increase the amount of climate-warming carbon
dioxide that goes into the atmosphere, U.S. researchers
reported on Thursday.

These so-called food-based biofuels can actually hurt
the environment if they are produced on land that was
formerly grassland, rainforest or savanna, the scientists
said in the journal Science.

Nonfossil fuels -- ethanol made from corn or sugarcane
and biodiesel made from palm trees or soybeans -- are
meant to lessen dependence on petroleum products,
which release the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide when
they burn.

However, biofuels can release carbon even before they
are burned, depending on how they are made, said study
co-author Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0716998820080207