Should we just ditch biofuels?

mspohr · Jul 13, 2022

Halt use of biofuels to ease food crisis, says green group

RePlanet calls on EU to ditch organic targets and for governments to lift bans on genetically modified crops

www.theguardian.com

Ending the EU’s requirement for biofuels alone would free up about a fifth of the potential wheat exports from Ukraine, and even more of its maize exports, enough to make a noticeable difference to stretched food supplies, according to analysis by the campaign group RePlanet.

RePlanet found that although the original justification for biofuels was as a lower carbon alternative to fossil fuels, in fact, owing to the impact on food, the fertiliser and energy used to produce the grains and oils and the land converted to agriculture to produce biofuels, there is little carbon saving over fossil fuels.

RePlanet also argues that consumers in rich countries should eat less meat to free up grain for people’s diets around the world, and that prohibitions around the world – particularly in the EU – on the genetic modification of crops should be lifted to make higher yields possible.

mspohr · Jul 13, 2022

How Demand for Twigs Is Bringing Down a Rainforest

In the Congo River Basin, people who collect bundles of wood to make charcoal are playing a surprisingly large role in the deforestation of a region that rivals the Amazon in importance.

www.nytimes.com

But the raiding of the forest by regular people in search of cooking materials is surprisingly destructive as well. That’s partly because felling and burning trees unleashes stores of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, where it acts as a blanket, trapping the sun’s heat and warming the world. But in addition to that, cooking with wood fires and charcoal — wood that is burned until it is reduced to almost pure carbon, which burns longer and hotter — affects air quality from particles emitted in the smoke.

Nearly 90 percent of Congo’s 89.5 million people rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking, according to World Bank estimates. Congo lost more than 1.2 million acres of primary forest in 2021, mostly from residents clearing land for farming and for collecting wood for fires and charcoal, according to Global Forest Watch.

The power grid barely exists in this nation of glaring inequalities. That’s true even hundreds of miles away from Mr. Ipalensenda, in the capital, Kinshasa, where the flashy hotels and nightclubs gloss over the reality: A relative few people even there, in one of the Africa’s biggest cities, use gas-fired or electric stoves.

Bakeries where baguettes and a doughy cassava bread called fufu are made typically rely on charcoal or wood for cooking. So do the stalls that sell the popular dish, chicken mayo, with its saucy blend of onions and peppers. And so do countless people indoors, in their kitchens at home.

Most of Kinshasa’s residents rely on branches and briquettes that are carted into the city by the truckload, every day, the product of countless charcoal makers and wood gatherers raiding trees in rural areas outside the city.

Congo has huge potential for clean energy. Some researchers think the Congo River, which winds through the country, could be harnessed to power the entire continent. The nation’s government for decades has been trying to get more hydropower facilities online.

MontyFloyd · Jul 13, 2022

NO!
But for sure we MUST be much more careful how we gather, transport, and replenish.
Don't forget the economic driver and jobs it supports.

Like any system, the one used needs to be best for region, otherwise we have high inefficiencies and little gain, or worse.

mspohr · Jul 13, 2022

MontyFloyd said:
NO!
But for sure we MUST be much more careful how we gather, transport, and replenish.
Don't forget the economic driver and jobs it supports.

Like any system, the one used needs to be best for region, otherwise we have high inefficiencies and little gain, or worse.

I agree that biofuels might be better in some situations.
However, the two articles posted above highlight two different "use cases" where biofuels are destructive to the environment and alternatives (like solar/wind electricity) would be better.

MontyFloyd · Jul 13, 2022

mspohr said:
I agree that biofuels might be better in some situations.
However, the two articles posted above highlight two different "use cases" where biofuels are destructive to the environment and alternatives (like solar/wind electricity) would be better.

Title is misleading, it suggested to end all biofuels