Biofuel research lands £27 million
The government is to invest £27 million in the development of biofuels that can be produced without competing with food crops.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council project will have six research units, based at the universities of Cambridge, Dundee and York and Rothamsted Research and two at Nottingham.
The problem with biofuel
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “A distinction must be drawn between biofuel that uses food crops such as corn, rapeseed, palm and soya, and the currently experimental ‘second-generation’ fuels based on fibrous non-food plants which could be grown without displacing other crops and raising food prices.”
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council project will develpo so-called ‘second-generation’ biofuels, which use non-food crops such as willow, industrial and agricultural waste products and the inedible parts of crops and so do not take products out of the food chain.
The European Union has set biofuel targets of 10% by 2020, but this is likely to exacerbate the problem of deforestation as land is cleared to produce the food crops with which current biofuels are made.
The impact of deforestation
| The impact of deforeatation | …at a glance |
|---|---|
| Philippine archipelago forests | 90% lost |
| Madagascar rainforests | 95% lost |
| Brazilian Mata Atlântica forest | 90-95% lost |
| Overall impact | tropical deforestation contributes around 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions – similar to the amount generated by America and China. |
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