Pond-life to salvage biofuel’s green credentials?
by Simon Handby in Your car on 13.06.07
Biofuel seems to be the great green hope of the transport industry, with fuel companies and car makers all eager to look eco-friendly. But not everyone is convinced that biofuel is best for the planet.
In this Guardian article, George Monbiot says that the rush to plant biofuel crops is leading to a loss of rainforest, and straining the world’s food resources. Meanwhile, the World Resources Institute says that land use change – clearing a site for biofuel growth, for example - accounts for nearly a fifth of all green house gases.
Some firms are talking about alternatives, though. Sensitive perhaps to the public perception of planes as carbon-belching, Boeing says that algae can fuel the world’s air fleet - proving itself useful for turning more than just a pond green. Promising though this sounds, Boeing says it would need land equivalent to the US state of Maryland, the Old Line State – we can’t imagine ‘the Algae State’ catching on.
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