Biofuels can be a menace for water resources
The headline is the affirmation of the specialists at Stockholm's World Water Week. Actually the Stockholm International Water Institute claims that in 2050, crops used to yield biofuels will double agriculture water usage. Since 74 percent of water is used for agriculture already, this can add a serious stress to current water resources.At the same conference, the Comisión Económica para América Latina (Latin American Economic Commission) said that some of the plans designed to help poor countries to develop a biofuel industry are against the reality of water shortage, such as the case of Perú (a country that surely has other issues to worry about now).
Other experts claimed as well against other side effects of this new intensive agriculture: land concentration into a few hands, leaving poor farmers out of business; deforestation and use of pesticides which can damage human health. What's your opinion in this debate? Do you share this group's views on the disaster that biofuels are/aren't/might be?
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[Source: World Water Week via Glocalia]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A.Brien 1:30PM (8/17/2007)
I'll choose natural gas instead of any biofuel for an add-on to classic diesel and gasoline. The land should just serve for foods not burning it. The actual cars can use natural gas with little modifications. Hydrogen can be add too to natural gas to power ice engines and natural gas can be made from waste in some percentage. It's a complex problem because many many solutions are availlables. But for the long run hydrogen should be push forward because it's really renewable. I think goverments push in too much differents solutions and car manufacturers just wait the confusion cease.
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kballs 5:59PM (8/17/2007)
How about focusing on biofuel crops that grow with natural rainwater and no pesticides or fertilizer? For example: switchgrass. Find crops that will grow natively like weeds.
Hydrogen is not the future, it's a mediocre energy storage medium at best, an energy hole to produce at worst. The oil and coal companies are pushing the "hydrogen economy" because they know that the only way to produce enough of it for our needs, you have to manufacture it from oil and coal products.
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Matthew Miller 1:36PM (9/11/2007)
Biofuels are not the answer. Any Carbon based energy form is not a good answer. If a reason that we need to move away from burning Petroleum is the added carbon to the atmosphere, how will burning plants help? An excuse like, "The plants will reuse the carbon" doesn't help. If the globe is warming because of carbon we need to get carbon back in the ground and leave it there. So burning anything for fuel is not going to save us. What will? Windpower and Solar Energy, possibly harnessing the power generated with capacitors (batteries) which will power our vehicals. Thats all that will turn the temperature down, one day.
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