Every week there seems to be a new report on the potential downsides of biofuels.
This week it is the turn of British MPs. UK and European governments should not have pursued targets to increase the use of biofuels without putting in place “robust” measures to prevent environmental damage, the MPs are warning.

Biofuels have a limited ability to replace fossil fuels and should not be regarded as a “silver bullet” solution to reducing transport emissions, British scientists have warned.
The report by Britain’s Royal Society warned that biofuels risk failing to deliver significant reductions in transport emissions and could even be environmentally damaging unless the government implements the […]

Producing biofuels from a fast-growing grass delivers vast savings of carbon dioxide emissions compared with petrol, a large-scale study has suggested.
A team of US researchers also found that switchgrass-derived ethanol produced 540% more energy than was required to manufacture the fuel. They also calculated that the production and consumption of switchgrass-derived ethanol cut CO2 emissions […]

Oh, dear George W. Wasn’t biofuels from corn one of your great ideas? You may have to think again.
Using biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soy could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil fuels, according to experts. Although the fuels themselves emit fewer greenhouse gases, they all have higher costs in terms […]

It’s not just oil that going through the roof. Agricultural commodities rose to multi-year highs today as traders anticipated higher demand from the expanding global biofuels industry.
In Chicago, the Financial Times reports “wheat jumped 16 cents to $9.31 a bushel, 59 cents below its all-time high, while soyabeans rose to $12.38, a fresh 34-year high, […]