Re: Are Biofuels the Answer?

The world has 32 billion acres of bioproductive land and over 6 billion people so we have about 5.3 acres per person. 

Unfortunately, we lose 60,000 square kilometers of agricultural land every year as deserts grow.  Mexico loses more than 1000 square kilometers a year.  By 2025 Asia will lose one third of its agricultural land, Africa two thirds and South America one fifth.  Then there is land lost to asphalt, concrete and erosion.

Forget about growing crops for bio fuel, but we do have an unlimited source of rotting food, some of which has already been  processed to some degree. 

All cities import food, water, energy etc. The total area required to support each city is the environmental footprint which is spread over the entire globe.  When footprints overlap we start to run out of things, and fight for what is left.

North Americans need 24 acres per person.  Developing countries copy developed countries, so when they start consuming at our levels with all the money we are sending them in trade, what we enjoy now won't last long.   We have to  use what we have so much more efficiently  to retain a high  standard of personal comfort with about  1/5 of what we presently  consume per person.  Personal conservation will not cut it.  We can start by teaching children at home so we don't have to bus them to school.  -This may not be the best place to start, but it will require that kind of "thinking outside the box" to fix this one.

The developed world is only 20% of the world's population but we use 80% of resources.  This means that if each individual in the developed world reduced consumption by 1 gallon (oil, gas, food - whatever) and each individual in the developing world is allowed to increase his consumption by only a 1/2 gallon (oil, gas, food - whatever) in the same period of time, the world's total consumption will still increase 100%.

Sorry! The only fix is to demonstrate how to live on the 5 acres per person so that everyone else can copy.   The world's population is expected to peak at about 10 billion.  Birth control or not, if you don't have the population age mix you don't have mature workers to support the social structure (run the machines and pay the pensions). 

Then there is the pollution problem.  Because bi fuels are produced from vegetation they actually produce more nitrous oxide than fossil fuels.

The city of Victoria (Canada) has just lost a suite from an environmental group for dumping raw sewage into the ocean.  The Government has pomised a few billion to fix the problem.  Turning all this human waste into biofuel may be the only way to solve the problem.  The energy recoved may be the bonus that pays the freight.

 Yes, biofuels may be the answer.