Biofuels

Research into biofuels began in earnest soon after the oil crisis of 1973. By the early to mid-1990s, biofuels emerged as a serious alternative to fossil fuels, and were touted as an Earth-friendly answer to the need for lower fossil fuel carbon emissions and a reduction of foreign dependency on overseas oil. In essence, biofuel is an energy resource that is derived either from living organisms (called biomass) or from waste biomass (also called biowaste). It can be produced in solid, liquid, and gaseous form, but since it is used mostly for transportation, it is primarily found in liquid form.

In the public debate, biofuels generally refer to ethanol or biodiesel, the former favored by the Americas (Brazil and the United States produce 90 percent of the world's ethanol between them); the latter preferred by Europe (accounting for 89 percent of global biodiesel production in 2005). While biofuels can derive from a large number of crops, most ethanol in the world today comes from corn and sugar cane, whereas most biodiesel emanates from vegetable oils or animal fats, including waste cooking oil.

Biofuels, such as sugar cane at this distillation plant near São Paulo, Brazil, are believed to be an important pollution-reduction alternative and a renewable source of energy

Source: Shell

[Page 21]While biofuels undoubtedly have several benefits over fossil fuels, it has become increasingly apparent in recent years that they do not represent the environmental panacea many hoped they would. The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in a recent report acknowledged, for instance, that biofuels are more carbon dioxide (CO2) neutral than fossil fuels, but may have harmful effects if growing the feedstock is done in a way that causes deforestation, competes with the food supply and drives up the cost of food, or consumes water in water-scarce regions.