Biofuels have been largely regarded as a greenest alternative to solve the world fuel problems. However, the recent studies have revealed startling facts that suggests that the green fuel is not really that green. When we talk about biofuels, we are essentially talking about ethanol, used after mixing with petrol, as well as biodiesel. Discussed here are the five major problems that have occurred due to increased use of biofuels:
Deforestation to support global demand for farm lands to produce crops for biofuels
Global food crisis because of diversion of food crops to produce biofuels
Depletion of ground water level
Extinction of Endangered species
Creation of “Dead Zones” in Gulf of Mexico
One the major sources of making biofuels is farm crops mainly maize and sugarcane for ethanol. Vegetable oils are the major source for biofuels in Europe while corn in US. To support the global mission for biofuels, large amounts of forest lands are getting converted to farm lands so that they can be used to grow crops like maize to produce ethanol. As the global demand for such crops increases, more and more forest lands are getting converted to farm lands.
Earlier the plant-based fuels were considered better then the fossil fuels as the calculation was done that the carbon emitted by burning plant-based fuels was absorbed back when the new plants grow. However, the emission did not include the carbon emitted during the process of converting the plants into fuels i.e. refining and transporting etc. Destroying forests for biofuels pumps in more CO2 in atmosphere then they could save possibly as replacement for fossil fuels. The fact that farmlands absorb less CO2 than rainforests reveals a serious accounting error as the calculation totally overlooked the land use change in the analysis. According to Joseph Fargione, scientist at Nature Conservancy, clearance of grasslands releases 93 times the amount of greenhouse gases that would be saved by fuel made annually from that land. The destruction currently taking place, especially in the rain forests in the tropics and grasslands in South America, has tremendously increased the carbon emissions into the atmosphere since these ecosystems are planet’s natural sponge for carbon emissions.
Besides this, there is also direct linkage between the global food crisis and increased acreage of crops that are being used to produce biofuels. As farmers get government incentives to produce crops that are used to produce biofuels, more and more farmers switch to crops for biofuels rather then to feed the nation. In US, the recent government subsidies have ensured that around 30 million tonnes of maize have been diverted to produce ethanol. This can lead to increase in global food crisis, particularly wheat since more and more crops get diverted to production of biofuels instead of going to consumers. Taking the example of US farmers, earlier the US farmers used to rotate crops between soybeans and corn in alternate years. Now they have stopped and produce only corn for biofuels because of government incentives. This increases pressure to produce soybeans elsewhere which is Brazil right now as it produces most of the world’s soybean presently. The price paid is by jungles of Amazon which are being cut for this reason and the consequences of this deforestation have been already discussed above.
In the Indian context, if we talk about biofuels, sugarcane is the primary source of ethanol in India. Although it is a fact that sugarcane is not a food crop and thus doesn’t pose such problems that are in West, but one should not forget that sugarcane is a water-intensive crop. Increased production of this crop would lead to greater absorption of groundwater and thus depleting the water level which is already dangerously low.
Another major problem which is indirectly linked to biofuels but directly linked to the deforestation currently undergoing to make way for biofuels is the extinction of several species that reside in the forests. Amazon is a home to around 30% of the world species with some of the rarest ones like pink river dolphins, jaguars, pumas, snakes, butterflies and innumerable insects. The rate at which it is getting deforested fears some environmentalists that it may be totally gone by 2050. In Borneo - Indonesia, the rainforests are home to Orangutan, Sumatra Tiger, Asian Elephant and Sumatran Elephant. It is believed that at the current rate of destruction, Orangutan would be extinct in next 10 years. Increase use of biofuels would only add pressure to the rapid deforestation that is currently undergoing.
Lastly, the increase pressure to produce crops for biofuels is dangerous for the marine life as well. Reportedly, there are “Dead Zones” that are created in the ocean of Gulf of Mexico. “Dead Zone” is an oxygen starved patch in an ocean and is caused by decomposing algae that exhausts oxygen and suffocates marine life to death. According to June edition of National Geographic, one of the major reasons for “Dead Zones” in Gulf is because of increased use of fertilizers that farmers use to produce corn for biofuels. The fertilizer runs through Mississippi and mixes in ocean to lead to death of marine life.
Thus, it is seen that although world over people are getting positive about bio-fuels, the fuel is not so green in reality. The government and the organizations world over should instead concentrate on alternative energy sources like Solar Energy to run automobiles. There is a need for extensive research on solar cars or electric cars that can run longer distances on a single charge. Innovations are also going on for the cars that can run with hydrogen fuel. Besides that another dimension that government could work upon is to develop biofuels that do not require raising crops like the ones made from agricultural waste products. Such options would be far greener then the biofuels.
