Will Biofuels Cause Environmental Destruction Too?

Filed in archive Opinion on September 5, 2006

After reading several reports on Indonesian and Malaysian virgin forests being plundered to give way to palm oil plantations or South American forests being "developed" into Earth-saving sources of biomass resources, I cant help but wonder, Will Biofuels Cause Environmental Destruction Too?

Biofuel supports believe that biofuels will bring down oil prices and help stop climate change. But will it do just that? Reports from many credible resources say that it might not. The increased activity in the biofuel sectors has increased the demand for raw materials which in turn has increased the demand for agricultural land. Clearing up existing carbon sinks such as forests to produce biofuels that supposedly arrests climate change does exactly the opposite!

On the front end, consumers are beginning to feel the brunt of an increased demand for Bioethanol, inflation. The increased demand for ethanol in the US for example has created a huge shortage in ethanol supply, which effectively raised prices thus negating the supposed advantages of using biofuels in the first place!

It's really time to ask, will biofuels ever make it? Or will biofuels be the Renewable Energy bane? Answer the poll, tell me what you think, and lets put this issue to a forum right here, right now.