Extracting ethanol from corn doused with chemical fertilizers is much less efficient than making it from corn grown in a no-till rotation and fertilized organically with a cover crop.

Casual observers might consider it a setback for proponents of ethanol and biodiesel now that Europe is planning to ban biofuels made from crops grown on high-value conservation lands. But the truth is, shunning biofuels produced on wetlands, grasslands, and deforested land is good for both critics and supporters. Overall, it’s even good for the biofuel industry because it might restore some faith in their product, which has been attacked from all corners in recent months. The main problem with Europe’s new law, in fact, may be that it is not stringent enough, Enn.com reported
A ban on some biofuels is good because there’s a natural tendency to take advantage of a bull market. As with any crop, when demand grows, farmers will expand production onto new territory, whether it’s the sloping, erosion-prone “back forty,“? a parcel of nearby forest, or a patch of wetlands. The rising demand for grains and oilseeds for food, livestock feed, and now biofuels is encouraging farmers across the world to expand their cropland as much as the law and the market tolerate.
In South America, soybean farmers and ranchers are encroaching on the Amazon, and palm oil plantations are continuing an alarming expansion across large swaths of virgin forests and peatlands in Southeast Asia. There are double benefits for local actors to clear forested land now, because the timber is valuable and so is the new cropland. Even though much of the logging and land conversion is done illegally, governments seldom have enough enforcement muscle to stop such profitable businesses.
But it’s not just about the growers. Consumers are probably the most important part of today’s raging biofuels market. People are interested in biofuels because they want to do something good for the planet--and if they realize that some of these fuels are linked to alarming social and environmental practices, the demand will dry up as they stop buying biofuel blends at the pump and pressure their governments to reverse biofuel mandates.
The only way forward for the market is to keep working on sustainability standards and accurate life-cycle measurements of the greenhouse gas impacts of a given biofuel. Like jeans and sports shoes, each gallon of fuel needs a tag that promises it was not produced in the equivalent of a biofuels sweatshop. Without regulation and transparency from field to tank, the industry simply cannot live up to its promise of a cleaner, better future.
The benefits of biofuels can be many: reducing dependence on oil, keeping money and jobs in the local economy, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, to name a few. But not all biofuels are created equal, and their benefits in fact vary wildly depending on the feedstock, how it is grown and harvested, where it is grown, and how it is processed.
Making ethanol from corn doused with chemical fertilizers is much less efficient than making it from corn grown in a no-till rotation and fertilized organically with a cover crop. In the United States, biodiesel produced from soybeans grown locally is much more efficient and climate friendly than corn ethanol, and more so if the beans are grown in a no-till system.
Meanwhile, ethanol from sugar cane grown in Brazil has far higher energy and climate benefits on average than either of these two options. But if the sugar cane is grown on a converted grassland, irrigated heavily, or treated with lots of inorganic fertilizer and pesticides, it starts losing its environmental benefits. Worse, if it is grown on a plantation where the laborers work in terrible conditions for a pittance, its social benefits leak away too.
Next-generation biofuel crops that can be produced with little water or fertilizer on dry or easily erodable soils, and that actually improve degraded soils, may have far superior benefits to even the best sugarcane ethanol. But if these second-generation fuels--derived mainly from quick-growing grasses and trees--are not produced with the goal of maximizing social and environmental benefits, they will have no more value than the dirtiest corn ethanol.
If the biofuels market (and related laws) recognize these differences, there will be an incentive to produce better biofuels. If not, then there’s no reason for a producer not to convert more land and throw more chemicals and water at the crop to make it grow, even on totally unsuitable land. The more guidance growers and importers have, and the more they know that someone is paying attention to their growing practices, the less environmental and social abuse there will be. These rules are pretty much universal, and don’t just apply to biofuels--but also to clothes, electronics, toys, and perhaps most interestingly, your food.
Bioenergy expert Dr. Jeremy Woods of London’s Imperial College noted recently that less than 1 percent of the market for palm oil is for biodiesel (while 99 percent is produced for food, cosmetics, and industrial uses). So a ban on palm oil for fuel alone is not going to stop deforestation. The good news is, you can check out the ingredients of the products you buy and put down that tub of margarine, package of cookies, candy bar, or bottle of shampoo if you see forest-unfriendly contents like palm oil inside.

Last year was a record year for the renewable energy industry in the United States. The development and sale of power from wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and other renewable sources in 2007 infused $20 billion into the U.S. economy and created tens of thousands of jobs. But industry leaders fear that growth could be stalled because of the failure of the US Congress to ensure long-term support for renewable energy projects, Allamericanpatriots.com reported.
Renewable energy in the United States is growing at breakneck speed. “It was the third record year in a row for the wind industry,“ says American Wind Association executive director Randy Swisher. Citing an increase of 5,244 megawatts of electrical generating capacity (more than twice the largest prior record), Swisher calls 2007 “a blowout year.“ He says new wind projects accounted for 30 percent of all new energy generating capacity in 2007.
It was also a record year for solar power says Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. He says 314 megawatts of new solar were installed in the United States last year, an increase in energy of 125 percent over 2006.
Geothermal energy, that uses the steam and hot water produced inside the earth to generate electricity, showed a 40 percent gain in new projects over 2006. And hydropower from dams and other water driven systems saw increases in investments, jobs and resources in every region of the country.
Industry analysts say the rapid development of renewable energy has been driven by state policies that require renewables in the overall energy mix, and by federal tax credits that have helped lower the costs of renewable energy enterprises.
In addition, the rising price of oil and natural gas has helped boost the prospects for renewables, according to Chris Flavin, President of Worldwatch Institute, a research group that follows global energy and environmental trends.
“Electric utilities, which had been basically putting all of their investment into new [natural] gas plants, are now looking to diversify,“ he says, adding utilities are turning to wind. “It allows them to not only meet their state regulatory requirements, but in many cases it is now arguably less expensive, certainly when the tax credit is included in the equation, than gas-fired power.“
The US Congress cut renewable energy tax credits from the recent 2007 energy bill. Solar Energy Industries Association president Rhone Resch says if the investment tax credit for solar energy is not extended and expanded early in 2008 solar could face a net job loss of over 40,000 by 2009.
“Very quickly we go from becoming an economic engine to becoming part of the industries in this country that are suffering,“ he adds.
The Solar Energy Industries Association, the American Wind Energy Association and other trade groups released a joint statement this week calling on Congress and the American public to help save their industries.
“There is a range of interest groups that share our vision,“ says Swisher, “ranging from the environmental community to the electric utility industry to the venture capital association. It is a wide and growing array of interests that share this agenda.“
Chris Flavin expects that Congress will act, either as a short-term fix in the economic stimulus bill now before Congress or in a new tax law. Flavin hopes the tax credit can be adjusted, in the long run, as renewable energy industries continue to grow.
“Some of these technologies may not need tax credits four or five years from now, so maybe there should be an effort to phase them down,“ Flavin says, “Other technologies are just getting into the market. Solar thermal power may need even a greater incentive than they have today.“
Flavin believes that solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies will soon be competitive with fossil fuels, and eventually replace them in the marketplace.

Masdar City in Abu Dhabi is marketed as the worldÕs first zero-carbon, zero-waste city.

While hydrocarbons will continue to be used for the foreseeable future, Abu Dhabi is looking to develop new technologies and commercially viable and sustainable energy solutions.
Demand for energy both in Abu Dhabi and abroad is growing at a tremendous rate. According to a report by Emirates Bank, electricity demand in the UAE is growing 10 percent per year due to energy intensive industrial developments and an ever-increasing population. Abu Dhabi, cited in a 2004 report by the UN Development Program as having the world’s third-highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita, behind Qatar and Kuwait, is keen to improve its environmental ranking while providing the necessary energy for the emirate’s economic growth, Menafn.com reported.
During the opening ceremony of the World Future Energy summit, held in the emirate on January 21 to 23, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, announced that the emirate’s government would dedicate $15 billion to a spread of ’green’ energy endeavors, including the first phase of a project to develop the world’s largest hydrogen power plant.
The proposed 500 MW hydrogen plant will be a joint venture between Masdar, the emirate’s program to develop and promote clean energy and sustainable design, and British Petroleum (BP) and Rio Tinto, a mining and exploration group based in the UK and Australia. Masdar will hold a 60 percent stake in the development and BP and Rio Tinto will hold equal shares of 20 percent . Expected to have a total cost of $2bn, the engineering and design for the plant are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
Funds will also be allocated for the development of Masdar City, marketed as the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste city. Powered solely by sources of renewable energy, the 6 sq km city aims to house 50,000 residents and over 1000 businesses focused on sustainability and alternative energy. The city is scheduled to be completed in 2013, with construction to begin next month. It is being designed with input from the environmental group World Wildlife Fund.
Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) is working in partnership with Masdar to create alternative energy solutions to power new developments on Sir Bani Yas, an island located in the Western Region of the emirate. The island is home to the largest wind turbine in the Middle East, which came on line earlier this week. The 65 metre high turbine, manufactured by Vestas Denmark, has a production capacity of 850 KW per hour, and helps to power facilities on the island in conjunction with the national electrical grid.
Sir Bani Yas is at the center of a new eight-island ’eco-resort’ being developed by TDIC called the Desert Islands. Speaking to local press, Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and TDIC, said the developers plan to utilize solar and wind solutions throughout the complex.
With measures like these, the government hopes to position the Masdar initiative as a key component of its economic growth and diversification. According to a group statement, “As a long-term strategic and financial initiative, Masdar aims to create an entirely new economic sector in Abu Dhabi, turning it into an exporter of technology.“
It could well be a profitable one--a recent study conducted by the UN reported that investments in the alternative energy business reached $70.9 billion in 2006. However, the profitability--and the relevance--of Abu Dhabi’s environmental programs have been questioned by those who point out that the technology needed for large-scale clean energy projects and sustainable development is still experimental and may not be commercially feasible.