It's no mystery where Grist comes down on the food vs. fuel
debate, aka the Great Ethanol Boondoggle. But it's nice to see
the science continuing to support our side of the argument (via
Science Daily):
Using productive farmland to grow crops for food instead of fuel
is more energy efficient, Michigan State University scientists
concluded, after analyzing 17 years' worth of data to help
settle the food versus fuel debate.
"It's 36 percent more efficient to grow grain for food than for
fuel," said Ilya Gelfand, an MSU postdoctoral researcher and
lead author of the study. "The ideal is to grow corn for food,
then leave half the leftover stalks and leaves on the field for
soil conservation and produce cellulosic ethanol with the other
half."
Other studies have looked at energy efficiencies for crops over
shorter time periods, but this MSU study is the first to
consider energy balances of an entire cropping system over many
years. The results are published in the April 19 online issue of
the journal Environmental Science & Technology. "It comes down
to what's the most efficient use of the land," said Phil
Robertson, University Distinguished Professor of crop and soil
sciences and one of the paper's authors.
The researchers go on to observe that using some of the crop
waste from, say, corn fields to make fuel (while reserving the
rest to plow back into the soil) increases the efficiency of the
process. But they also point out that that technique won't
provide nearly enough fuel for our gas tanks.
They also hold out hope, as do many in the biofuel industry, for
cellulosic biofuels that can be grown on marginal land. But the
fact is that a cash crop on marginal land is worth even more on
prime farmland -- once we go that route it will be very hard to
keep biofuel crops from displacing food crops, especially in the
developing world.
The conclusion I draw from this study is that it's a terrible
idea to put fuel in competition wtih food for productive
farmland. The system is designed to favor fuel production at
this point and now we know that's actually a waste of energy,
rather than a source. With any luck, this new data will be
included in the EPA's controversial review of its indirect
land-use calculations for the climate impact of biofuels.
Ultimately, I do think biofuels have a role in our economy, but
it will be through farmer cooperatives that grow and process
biofuel for their own tractors and not for suburban warriors and
their SUVs.