Insufficient utilization of renewable biofuels

Underutilization of biomass energy
Underutilization of biogas energy

Nature

New technologies allow efficient conversion of special crops and fast-growing trees into biogas, heat, or electricity. The system is sustainable; new crops reabsorb the carbon dioxide emitted from conversion of the previous harvest.

Incidence

Some examples of how efficient utilization of biomass energy could improve living standards the world over include: the addition of 10% of alcohol to petrol could end the lead problem; in sunny countries if a maize farmer devoted 10% of his land to growing sunflowers or peanuts, he could run all the diesel powered machines he uses from the oil produced; Sweden currently gets 9% of her energy from converting her forest products in various ways, but she could get 50%; in the UK, which only devotes 7-8% of her land to forests, crops could be grown to convert to fuel instead of unnecessary feed.

Claim

Advantages in biomass for energy schemes include: they store energy and are renewable; they can be developed with present manpower and material resources; they create employment and develop skills; they are reasonably priced and available to all income levels; they are ecologically safe and inoffensive; and they do not increase atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Counter-claim

Disadvantages in biomass for energy schemes include: their fertilizer, soil, and water requirements are high; they challenge existing agricultural, forestry, and social practices; they represent a bulky resource for which transport and storage could be a problem; they are subject to climatic variability; they may have low conversion efficiencies; and they are sometimes seasonal.