Corn and Soy-Based Biofuels Are A Waypoint, Not A Destination
Much commentary can be found in the mainstream media today about the negative impacts of first-generation biofuels, mainly corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel. Among the most commonly-heard criticisms are that the biofuels industry has increased demand for corn and soy, leading to higher prices for those commodities, which in turn leads to higher food prices. Critics also allege that demand for acreage for biofuels production increases the speed at which rainforests and other native ecosystems are cleared for food production, causing a "carbon debt" that is not fully offset by the emission savings from use of biofuels. Finally, naysayers assert that the carbon released from burning fossil fuels in the production of biofuels more than offsets the carbon savings.
All of these criticisms have some merit. However, those who crow about rising food costs usually fail to attribute any economic benefit to the increased use of non-fossil fuels, such as reduced carbon emissions and expenditure of energy dollars in America rather than abroad. While these benefits may not be easy to quantify on the individual level, they are real and go a long way toward offsetting the average consumer's increased food costs. Also, if we are going to blame the biofuels industry for increased cultivation of native ecosystems, we should equally blame those industries that convert farmland to subdivisions or that grow non-food crops like flowers, cotton and tobacco. All of those uses can equally be said to increase pressure on other land to meet the world's food supply needs. Finally the fossil-fuel argument is circular – as biofuels become more incorporated into our economy, the amount of fossil fuel burned in biofuel production will go down.
The primary flaw in these criticisms, however, is the failure to acknowledge that corn and soy-based fuels are only the first generation of biofuels to achieve commercial viability. Everywhere you look, research continues toward the second, third and fourth generations of biofuels, from varied products such as sugar cane, switchgrass, cellusosic plant waste, and even algae. Like all new technologies, the conversion of plants to fuel is continually evolving and improving. Just last month, for example, Science magazine reported a study by the USDA which achieved large-scale fuel production from switchgrass resulting in 540 percent more energy output than is consumed in the fuel-making process.
Abandoning biofuels now would be like abandoning powered flight 100 years ago because the Wright Brothers only flew a few hundred feet. I think it is a safe bet that for our children, engines powered by corn and soy based biofuels will be relics of a bygone era, like steam locomotives, sailing ships and maybe even the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine.
Posted by David J. Petersen, partner practicing in the Sustainability and Real Estate & Land Use Practice Groups.
