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REPORT: BIOFUELS POISED TO DISPLACE OIL

Biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel can

significantly reduce global dependence on oil, according

to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute.

Last year, world biofuel production surpassed 670,000

5 barrels per day, the equivalent of about 1 percent of the

global transport fuel market. Although oil still accounts for

more than 96 percent of transport fuel use, biofuel

production has doubled since 2001 and is poised for even

stronger growth as the industry responds to higher fuel

10 prices and supportive government policies. “Coordinated

action to expand biofuel markets and advance new

technologies could relieve pressure on oil prices while

strengthening agricultural economies and reducing climatealtering

emissions,” says Worldwatch Institute President

15 Christopher Flavin.

Brazil is the world’s biofuel leader, with half of its

sugar cane crop providing more than 40 percent of its nondiesel

transport fuel. In the United States, where 15 percent

of the corn crop provides about 2 percent of the non-diesel

20 transport fuel, ethanol production is growing even more

rapidly. This surging growth may allow the U.S. to overtake

Brazil as the world’s biofuel leader this year. Both countries

are now estimated to be producing ethanol at less than

the current cost of gasoline.

25 Figures cited in the report reveal that biofuels could

provide 37 percent of U.S. transport fuel within the next 25

years, and up to 75 percent if automobile fuel economy

doubles. Biofuels could replace 20–30 percent of the oil

used in European Union countries during the same time

30 frame.

As the first-ever global assessment of the potential

social and environmental impacts of biofuels, Biofuels for

Transportation warns that the large-scale use of biofuels

carries significant agricultural and ecological risks. “It is

35 essential that government incentives be used to minimize

competition between food and fuel crops and to discourage

expansion onto ecologically valuable lands,” says

Worldwatch Biofuels Project Manager Suzanne Hunt.

However, the report also finds that biofuels have the potential

40 to increase energy security, create new economic

opportunities in rural areas, and reduce local pollution and

emissions of greenhouse gases.

The long-term potential of biofuels is in the use of

non-food feedstock that include agricultural, municipal, and

45 forestry wastes as well as fast-growing, cellulose-rich

energy crops such as switchgrass. It is expected that the

combination of cellulosic biomass resources and “nextgeneration”

biofuel conversion technologies will compete

with conventional gasoline and diesel fuel without subsidies

50 in the medium term.

The report recommends policies to accelerate the

development of biofuels, while maximizing the benefits and

minimizing the risks. Recommendations include:

strengthening the market (i.e. focusing on market

55 development, infrastructure development, and the building

of transportation fleets that are able to use the new fuels),

speeding the transition to next-generation

technologies allowing for dramatically increased

production at lower cost, and facilitating sustainable

60 international biofuel trade, developing a true

international market unimpeded by the trade restrictions

in place today.

Worldwatch Institute - June 7, 2006.

Adapted from: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4079