It was not long ago that agrofuels
were considered a substitute to fossil fuels and that they were heavily
utilized in the transport sector. Moreover, fossil fuels were
considered harmful for the environment due to their carbon dioxide
emission and this in turn spiked the production of agrofuels to such an
extent, that large companies were given tax incentives to produce
corn-based ethanol and biodiesel from oilseed, which were advertised as a
perfect solution to climate change.
EU
countries focused on fulfilling 10% of their fuel requirements by
agrofuels by 2020, while the US wants to utilize 36 billion gallons by
2022, which adds more incentive on companies for the mass production of
crops just for the use in agrofuels.
But There is a problem
While
the replacement of fossil fuels by agrofuels should - like many people
would have assumed - have caused a positive change for the climate, the
vast production of agrofuels has led to the destruction of huge swath of
land.
Large
areas of forests, that are cleared in various locations like Indonesia,
Malaysia, Brazil, and South Africa, in order to plant crops that
produce agrofuel, have not only led to deforestation, which is a loss of
home for people and various animals and birds, but has also had a heavy
negative impact on the climate.
So, What About The Belief That Agrofuels Produce Less Greenhouse Gases?
Greenhouse
gases are well known to increase the global warming phenomenon and many
people also believed that agrofuels could potentially reduce the
greenhouse gas emissions. But this is factually wrong.
Many
agrofuel crops, which are supposed to store crop biomass and reduce
carbon dioxide from the air, produce excess amounts of nitrous oxide as a
result of using nitrogen fertilizers. Alongside this, the highly
industrialized cultivation, the process of fermenting various crops like
corn, soybean, palm and sugarcane to procure bioethanol and collecting
feedstock, which have to be then transported to production plants, which
produce fuel and distributes them to different locations, consumes a
lot fuel and energy. So, on the whole, more greenhouse gases are emitted
during this entire process, which in turn causes climatic changes and
natural disasters.
What Happens to OurForests?
It
is a well known fact, that the forests and fields which are needed to
produce food crops, are being cleared to plant energy crops. So not only
do we lose our forests and trees, which absorb carbon dioxide to give
us pure air, the purity of the soil is also lost in the way of organic
matter, which in turn releases more carbon dioxide and GHG emissions.
Also, the food prices are inflated, which have led to food shortages. So
not just for conserving our environment, the damage which occurs is
huge.
Final outcome
While
agrofuels have received much needed attention over the past decade and
have in a large way helped Europe and US to reach the much-needed
renewable energy consumption targets, the wider picture is not that
great. The amount of carbon dioxide produced in producing ethanol or
biodiesel in large quantities is not helping the question of whether it
is protecting our environment and causing less air pollution, which is
the utmost need of present times.
The
significant increase in temperatures and the damage caused by agrofuels
are highly debatable topics. Concerns have been raised by several
experts regarding the continuation of agrofuel usage while new methods
are yet available, where electricity and hydrogen can be substituted to
reduce the use of agrofuels.
Also,
ways of restoring our forests and preserving our carbon rich ecosystems
are being looked into to help restore the balance in our environment
and reduce drastic climatic changes. Read more about it at elstel.org
