BIOEN
Joint Letter to Issues in Science and Technology Versão em português
In their discussion of land use issues pertaining to biofuels, Kline et al. [Issues, Spring, 2009] highlight results from a recent inter-agency assessment [BRDI 2008] based on analyses of current land use and USDA baseline projections. The BRDI study finds that anticipated U.S. demand for food and feed demand, including exports, and the feedstock required to produce the 36 billion gallons of biofuels mandated by the renewable fuel standard are likely to be met using land that is currently managed for agriculture and forestry.
Looking at what would happen based on current trends is an important part of the overall biofuels picture, but only a part. Developing a strategic perspective on the role of biofuels in a sustainable world over the long term requires an approach that is global in scope and looks beyond continuation of current practices with respect to land use as well as the production and consumption of both food and fuel. While there is a natural reluctance to consider change, we must do so since humanity cannot expect to achieve a sustainable and secure future by continuing the practices that have resulted in the unsustainable and insecure present.
We - an international consortium representing academic, environmental advocacy, and research institutions - see increasing support for the following propositions:
1. Due to energy density considerations, it is reasonable to expect that a significant fraction of transportation energy demand will be met by organic fuels for the indefinite future. Biofuels are by far the most promising sustainable source of organic fuels, and are likely to be a non-discretionary part of a sustainable transportation sector.
2. Biofuels could be produced at a scale much larger than projected in most studies to date without compromising food production or environmental quality if complementary changes to current practices were made that foster this outcome.
Consistent with the first proposition, we believe that society has a strong interest in accelerating the advancement of beneficial biofuels. Such acceleration would be considerably more effective in terms of both motivating action and proceeding in efficacious directions if there were broader consensus and understanding with respect to the second proposition. Yet most analyses involving biofuels, including that of Kline et al., have been undertaken within a largely business-as-usual context. In particular, none have explored in any detail on a global scale what could be achieved via complementary changes fostering graceful coexistence of food and biofuel production.
To address this need, we have initiated a project entitled "Global Feasibility of Large-Scale Biofuel Production". Stage 1 of this project, beginning later this year, includes meetings in Malaysia, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, and the USA aimed at examining the biofuels/land use nexus in different parts of the world and planning for stage 2. Stage 2 will address the question: Is it physically possible for biofuels to meet a substantial fraction of future world mobility demand while also meeting other important social and environmental needs? Stage 3 will address economics, policy, transition paths, ethical and equity issues, and local-scale analysis. A project description and a list of organizing committee members, all of whom are cosignators to this letter, may be found on this site.
Lee Lynd, on behalf of the organizing committee:
Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil
Andre Faaij, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Jon Foley, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, USA
José Goldemberg, Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Nathanael Greene, Natural Resources Defense Council, USA
Lee Lynd, Chairman, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College; Mascoma Corp., USA
Reinhold Mann, Battelle Science and Technology Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Patricia Osseweijer, Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Tom Richard, Institutes of Energy and the Environment, Pennsylvania State University, USA
August B. Temu, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi Kenya
Emile van Zyl, Department of Microbiology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa