First generation biofuels made from food crops are already being used to fuel our cars, lorries and buses.
We’re told that they’re a renewable energy source that will decrease our dependency on fossil fuels.
Good news you may think. Well it would be if they were actually renewable...
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural sources such as the sun, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat. They are all renewable because they can be replenished naturally.
While some man-made inputs are needed to capture the energy from these sources (such as solar panels, hydroelectric plants etc), the source of the energy will continue to be there whether we use its energy or not.
Our capturing the energy does not reduce the amount of the resource. So these types of energy are virtually infinite resources and definitely count as renewable.
Compare this to biofuels. Those that are currently most widely used in Europe are made from food or oil crops grown primarily on agricultural land.
Say for example that you plant maize, which requires land – a limited resource. It sucks up nutrients from the ground – a limited resource – and requires water to grow properly – another limited resource. Is this renewable? Of course it’s not.
Scientists and NGOs have revealed the destructive effects that biofuels production is having on the environment and people’s way of life around the world.
Biofuels are partly responsible for driving up global food prices and causing land grabs in developing countries such as Kenya.
Yet EU states are still spending billions on subsidies and financial incentives for biofuels.
The bloc has insisted on including biofuels in its renewable energy targets and as a result, EU consumption of first generation biofuels is set to treble by 2020, leading to further food price volatility and land grabs globally.
The crazy thing is that biofuels are receiving all this support under the pretence that they’re renewable.
