Choose sustainable biofuel and biofuel blends as your only sustainable fuel of choice. Biofuel's have less carbon emissions and are therefore better for you and the environment.
If everyone used biofuels NZ could reduce its CO2 footprint by tens of thousands of tonnes per annum - So what are you waiting for!
Gull is the only serious retailer of biofuel blended fuel in NZ with a network across the North Island see www.gull.co.nz
By using biofuel blends you are still sticking to your old fashioned car that emits greenhouse gasses. CO2 is only one problem.
Biofuels are not bio. Biofuels do not grow on trees, they have to be manufactured, using electricity and other fuels. Many of them use prime agricultural land and monocultures. Wheat is getting more expensive due to being used for biofuels especially in the USA while 3rd world people starving.
I have sincere difficulties to accept biofuels.
Example sites:
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http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/EandE/Web_sites/02-03/biofuels/why_lca.htm
A ton of biodiesel will contain around 40,800MJ of energy.
Energy Balance = Energy OUT / Energy IN
= 40,800 / 16.269
= 2.5
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Another report is even worse:
http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbioenergy.ucdavis.edu%2Fmaterials%2FPresentations%2FLCA%2520of%2520biofuels%2520(ITS%2520seminar).ppt&ei=GA0BS9LbDZT-tQPT5_GdCg&usg=AFQjCNHqLgZKJ4qden7A88FECDtyTsjWOQ&sig2=Iy97OyILrg08Lsz0xXLkig
The largest sources of emissions in the upstream lifecycle of biofuels are land-use changes and cultivation (impacts on wetlands especially important!), fuel production, feedstock recovery, fertilizer manufacture, and emissions displaced by co-products.
In contrast to many other studies, this analysis finds that corn ethanol does not not have significantly lower GHG emissions than does gasoline, and that cellulosic ethanol from grass has only about 50% lower emissions. The main reasons for this difference are that we estimate relatively high emissions from feedstock and fertilizer production, from land use and cultivation, and from emissions of non-CO2 GHGs from vehicles.
This analysis finds that soy biodiesel has higher lifecycle GHG emissions than does conventional diesel. This is because of the large (and usually overlooked) N2O emissions from soyfields, and the large (and again usually overlooked) emissions of carbon due to changes in land use.
Many often overlooked questions may be important: how long are energy crop programs? What are CO emissions from tractors? Does the high cost of seeds mean high energy use in seed production? What is the appropriate discount rate time-path? What is the time-history of the crop-fuel-use cycle? What about dust emissions, changes in albedo…?
Failure to adequately consider economic/price effects in all lifecycles may by itself render current LCAs of biofuels almost useless.
Note on other environmental impacts: Recent analyses by Jacobson at Stanford indicates that ethanol ICEs may slighly worsen air quality, partially on account of high acetaldehyde formation. Biofuel programs may have adverse impacts on water quality if soil erosion and N runoff are high.
Note #2: these findings do not apply in full force to fuels derived from agricultural wastes.
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And many more, just browse for http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=LCA+biofuels
Use your bicycle, walk, support renewable energy, buy an electric car and hope that one day all energy supply is renewable.
in November 2009
Some good points, but not all biofuels are bad. Many are sustainable and renewable. Second and third generation biofuels from biomass and algae show great promise.
Check out http://www.aquaflowgroup.com/
I dont think anyone is about to dump their car overnight so we must look at and support better alternatives including 'sustainable' biofuels.
We must be careful not to throw the biofuel baby out with the bathwater when the making generalisations about all biofuels. It is sad to think that biofuels should be discounted or ignored in favour of continued use of fossil fuels
I have not seen a comprehensive life cycle assessment of GHG emissions from fossil fuel exploration and refining either. Nor an assessment on the impact of people in the Niger delta, or Gulf of Mexico!!
Electric vehicles will have a place some day provided the electricity comes from renewables, otherwise your just shifting the pollution from the tail pipe to the coal fired power stations smoke stack!
Finally the food vs fuel debate This report www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/pdf/ag-price-annex%205.pdf. commissioned by the UK Government has unequivocally concluded that biofuels was not to blame for the so-called food crisis of 2007/2008.
In the meantime I will continue to choose Gulls sustainable biofuel blends over fossil fuels to run my car - But I would say that! So who is with me?
Karl Mischewski
Gull Sustainability Manager
PS For the record I commute to work every day on a ferry and bus!!
in June 2010
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