About those two studies dissing biofuels

I’m sure you’ve already read about them at the NYT or Grist. But where else can you get the links to the (abstracts of the) studies themselves?

1. “Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change”
2. “Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt”

As for commentary, what is there to say after “Doh!” and “Duh!” As I’ve written:

Biofuels from most food crops or from newly deforested lands do not provide a significant net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions — and some may cause a net increase.

The studies do bring some rock-solid new analysis to explaining just how counterproductive most biofuels are from a climate perspective. Their abstracts say it all:

1. Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of the feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuels. Using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50%. This result raises concerns about large biofuel mandates and highlights the value of using waste products.
2. Increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a ‘biofuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages.

Time for a new biofuels policy.