Biofuels are Bad for the Environment

A recent international study has found that BioFuels such as Ethanol emite up to 70% more greenhouse gases, particularly nitrous oxide, than fossil fuel. Nitrous Oxide is 300 times more damaging than carbon monoxide. This is the second study that has come to this conclusion, which will surely be brushed aside by the likes of Al Gore and others that want to blame humans for Gloabal Warming. The alternative fuels sources are becoming slimmer. More Green Credits please…

Another hiddedn jem in this article, that the liberal left will deny, is that the study also found that the human effect, man-made causes, is only responsible for 2% of Global Warming. Holy Jesus, what about the other 98%? Please Mr. Gore, answer that. Additionally if the US were to move to biofuels,, man-made emissions would rise to 6%, that is a 300% increase in greenhouse gases. Time to wake up America, the liberals are using smoke a mirrors, ultimately to make money for themselves.

The Al Gore campers have been trying to convince the public were are all so bad and we need to spend massive amounts of money to change to “green” engery and we will have to give up our daily convinience unless we have green credits. What a load of crap. Speaking of crap, guess what contains a lot of nitrogen based compounds that release into the air. Guess what will be used to rapidly grow corn for Ethanol. If you guessed the crap that keeps coming from the Gore campers, your were right.

A renewable energy source designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is contributing more to global warming than fossil fuels, a study suggests.

Measurements of emissions from the burning of biofuels derived from rapeseed and maize have been found to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than they save.

Other biofuels, especially those likely to see greater use over the next decade, performed better than fossil fuels but the study raises serious questions about some of the most commonly produced varieties.

Rapeseed and maize biodiesels were calculated to produce up to 70 per cent and 50 per cent more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels. The concerns were raised over the levels of emissions of nitrous oxide, which is 296 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Scientists found that the use of biofuels released twice as much as nitrous oxide as previously realised. The research team found that 3 to 5 per cent of the nitrogen in fertiliser was converted and emitted. In contrast, the figure used by the International Panel on Climate Change, which assesses the extent and impact of man-made global warming, was 2 per cent. The findings illustrated the importance, the researchers said, of ensuring that measures designed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions are assessed thoroughly before being hailed as a solution.

“One wants rational decisions rather than simply jumping on the bandwagon because superficially something appears to reduce emissions,” said Keith Smith, a professor at the University of Edinburgh and one of the researchers.

Maize for ethanol is the prime crop for biofuel in the US where production for the industry has recently overtaken the use of the plant as a food. In Europe the main crop is rapeseed, which accounts for 80 per cent of biofuel production.

Professor Smith told Chemistry World: “The significance of it is that the supposed benefits of biofuels are even more disputable than had been thought hitherto.”

It was accepted by the scientists that other factors, such as the use of fossil fuels to produce fertiliser, have yet to be fully analysed for their impact on overall figures. But they concluded that the biofuels “can contribute as much or more to global warming by N2 O emissions than cooling by fossil-fuel savings”.

The research is published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, where it has been placed for open review. The research team was formed of scientists from Britain, the US and Germany, and included Professor Paul Crutzen, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on ozone.

Dr Franz Conen, of the University of Basel in Switzerland, described the study as an “astounding insight”.

“It is to be hoped that those taking decisions on subsidies and regulations will in future take N2O emissions into account and promote some forms of ’biofuel’ production while quickly abandoning others,” he told the journal’s discussion board.

Dr Dave Reay, of the University of Edinburgh, used the findings to calculate that with the US Senate aiming to increase maize ethanol production sevenfold by 2022, greenhouse gas emissions from transport will rise by 6 per cent.